Wear the weave Walk the talk

HYDERABAD: August 7 was chosen as the National Handloom Day to commemorate the Swadeshi Movement which was launched on this day in 1905 in the Calcutta Town hall to protest against partition of Bengal by the British Government. Unfortunately, handlooms which are comfortable on the skin, are affordable and support the local enterprise, has taken a back seat due to the so-called new wave of fashion. As weavers of Telangana struggle  to eke out a living, here is what we can do to celebrate our local weaves and support them by wearing them. But before you walk the talk and wear the weave, take a look at what each weave is famous for. Handloom enthusiast and international consultant Veni Mocherla from Hyderabad tells us in detail.

Gadwal Sarees
Gadwal sari is a handcrafted woven sari style in Gadwal of Jogulamba Gadwal district in the Indian state of Telangana. Over 800 looms at Rajoli village create Gadwal sarees. Other notable villages where they are made are Gattu, Yemmiganur, Aiza, and Nagaladinne. The distinctive feature of Gadwal sarees is the pallu of the saree is joined later. So always look out for the kuttu stitches to spot an original. Here’s another feature that’ll help you recognise an original handloom. Gadwal saree, despite being a blend of cotton and silk, has a silk border. Sticking to its inspiration from temple and nature, the motifs have always been in the shape of temples, and the architecture of religious places. Paisley and peacock motifs are also used to embellish this classic saree. One of the variants of the Gadwal sari is the Sico Gadwal which makes use of a blend of cotton and silk threads. The most noteworthy feature remains the zari work, in gold and silver, on the border of the saree, which is always made of silk.

Gollabhama Sarees
Gollabhama saree is also popularly known as Siddipeta saree. It takes four days to make a Gollabhama saree. The saree comes in different motifs spread across the pallu and the body of the saree. The three motifs used in the saree are Gollabhama, Bathukamma and Kolatam, with Gollabhama being the most popular in the lot. Gollabhama (milkmaid motif) woven onto the border of the saree refers to women of Golla community. When it comes to creating the motif, the weaver needs to meticulously pass the coloured thread through the warp to get a clear design which is time consuming. Siddipet Gollabhama sarees have a geographical indication tag too.

Narayanpet Sarees
These 16th century sarees have the influence of Maharashtra as Maharashtrian weavers travelled along with the Maratha King, Chattrapati Shivaji to Narayanpet. A few stayed back and started the weaving of the saree in Narayanpet with a distinctive style. Narayanpet sarees have a checkered body, temple design and other patterns border and a pallu with horizontal lines. Interlock weft technique is used to achieve the two different wefts to be woven side by side. Narayanpet sarees have their GI Tag too.

Ikkat Sarees
Pochampally, Puttapaaka and Chautuppal villages are the chief production sites for Ikkat sarees in Telangana. The term ‘ ikkat’ refers to the dyeing technique to create the designs on the fabric. It is a resist dyeing process where bundles of yarn are tightly wrapped together and then dyed as many times as is required to create the desired pattern. Once the yarns have been suitably dyed and dried the weaver lines them upon the loom to form the pattern. The design takes form as the yarn is woven into the cloth. To replicate a pattern, the weaver would have to dye the thread in exactly the same place as before and line it up on a loom in exactly the same place and then they have to weave it same way. It is therefore a tedious process.There are three weaving techniques. These are Wrap ikkat, Weft ikkat and Double ikkat.
Single ikkat can be weaved using weft or warp technique.  Warp Technique: In this technique, weft yarns are all dyed in single colour and warp yarns are ikkat dyed and lined up on loom.

Weft Technique: In this technique, warp yarns are all dyed in single colour and weft yarns are ikkat dyed and lined up on loom.Double ikkat is a yarn resist technique where both the warp (the vertical thread on the loom) as well the weft (the horizontal thread) are tied and dyed according to a graphed pattern.

TFMC top brass to sport handloom masks
The TFMC (Telangana Facilities Management Council) has announced that as part of its National Handlooms Day on August 7, all the heads in their organisation will sport handloom masks. Incidentally, the TFMC has been instrumental in promoting ‘Handlooms Monday’ initiative for the past couple of years to encourage nearly six lakh IT employees working in over 400 companies wear local handloom clothes to their workplace every Monday.