Kancheepuram Silk Sari

Traditional Kancheepuram silk saris are woven with solid colour borders and pallav using korvai and petni techniques respectively. These saris have broad pallavs drawing inspiration from temples in and around Kancheepuram. Motifs include yali, annam, peacock, elephant and horse motifs with supporting designs like Rudraksham, Seeppu rekku, Thalampoorekku,Muthu kattam and Mayil chakra, etc.

Kancheepuram silk saris are woven using mulberry silk yarns in both warp and weft and ornamentation using pure zari. The silk sari is specially worn on weddings, festivals, and other auspicious occasions.

This Sari was registered under the Geographical Indications ofGoods Act 1999 in 2005.

Ilkal Sari

Ilkal is a small town located in the southeast part of the Bagalkot district, in the state of Karnataka, India. Ilkal was an ancient weaving center renowned for its handloom saris. The main body of the sari has stripes, rectangles, squares, or could even be plain. The pallav has temple tower designs and is usually made of red silk with white patterns. The main highlight of this sari is the border, which is 4 to 6 inches broad and is usually in contrasting colours. The sari is often embellished, which makes it exclusive.

Traditionally the colours used are pomegranate red, brilliant peacock green, and parrot green. Motifs are inspired by temple architecture, gopura (temple tower), ratha (chariot), temple tank, lotus, animals, conch-shell and the border often represents a field of crops. Ilkal saris are available in 6, 8, and 9 yards. They are now woven using cotton or silk or art silk. The pallav of the sari has red and white bands ending in tapering lines, known as "Tope Teni Seragu". Different types of traditional borders are Chikki, Gomi, Jari, Gadidadi and Gayathri.

Ashawali Sari

Earlier Ahmedabad was known as Ashawal and hence the name Ashawalli sari was given to brocaded saris woven in and around the region. "Ain-e-Akbari'' refers to Ahmedabad as a center for brocade, velvet, and silk weaving. The popular motifs are flowers, birds and animal forms, enclosed in different allover patterns. The saris have peculiar heavy motifs of paisleys, peacocks and other birds on the pallav which are ornate with extra weft in coloured silk yarns, known as meenakari technique or enamelling

Presently, the Ashawalli brocade weaving is only being carried out in Ridrol village, in Mansa taluka of Gandhinagar.

Banarasi Jangla Silk Sari

Banaras weaves are synonymous with rich, heavily patterned, mostly silk with gold or silver zari threads ornamented fabric. This is one of the most important traditional saris of Varanasi. The word Jangla has been derived from the word Jungle.

In this design, decorative motifs (leaves and flowers) are arranged in such a manner that one creeper crosses another, leaving ground space which also forms a design. In the creeper, big flower or paisley motifs are arranged in half-drop or reversedrop fashion.

These creepers are woven with the Karhua technique with the help of silk (bamboo stick). Creepers are generally woven in gold and silver zari with coloured yarn in meenakari technique.

Tussar Silk Sari of Champa

A variety of tussar silk is cultivated in various regions of Chhattisgarh, including Raigarh, Bilaspur and Janjgir-Champa and is naturally found in colours such as dark honey, orange, gold and cream. Tussar silk fabrics are woven using domestic reeled Tussar silk yarn (Kosa) both in warp and weft. Most of the saris are woven with natural tussar silk colour with a temple border in contrasting colour combination and small jala butis are woven in the body of the sari.

The Kosa silk of Champa is internationally recognised for its high quality and is characterised by its uneven textures and bright colours. The silkworms that produce the silk are reared on the bark of the Arjun (Terminalia arjuna) and Saj (Terminalia tomentosa) trees.

Uppada Jamdani Silk Sari

Historically, Jamdani as a technique was first written about in Kautilya's Arthashastra. This style of weaving was widely prevalent in Bangladesh. It slowly seeped into India as trade between the two began to flourish. Eventually, these were produced in Uppada in bulk.

The artisans in this region became quite adept at producing Uppada Jamdani saris, leading to their popularity. The sari, also known as Andhra Uppada, although inspired by the jamdani tradition, has a distinct local character.

With paisley, floral and geometric motifs woven on the finest of pure silk or cotton, the magnificence of this sari shines through in every thread. This Sari was registered under the Geographical Indications of Goods Act 1999 in 2009.

Cotton Jamdani Sari

Jamdani came from the Persian words Jama (cloth) and Dana (diapering). Originally, Jamdani sarees were woven in Bangladesh, Dhaka and hence the name "Dhakai Jamdani". However after the partition of Bengal, a few weavers migrated to West Bengal and started weaving Bengal Jamdanis, hand-woven fabrics made up of cotton, which historically was referred to as muslin. It is one of the most time-consuming and labor-intensive forms of handloom weaving, generally woven white on white creating a play of light and shadow.

The Jamdani technique is essentially a tapestry work, the wefts forming the pattern where needed, threaded into the warps with a wooden needle. Such short lengths of wefts thread are then extended to complete a design by looping and tying around a warp. It is indeed amazing that there is no machine to set the intricate pattern. Weavers need no drawings at hand; they can work on a pattern instantly without the aid of a sketch. The sari is decorated with motifs viz. geometrical and floral in fine count (100s/80s) cotton on pit/frame loom.