chanderi textile 2

WEAVER'S WORLD / CHANDERI / TEXTILES - 3

• The ‘Butti’ or motif, an interlaced, hand-woven shape, consisting of gold, silver or copper coated threads is an added major attraction. The Asharfi Butti, or Gold Coin shaped Butti has been a popular choice since earlier times, though the pure gold or silver used in its making has given way to tested Zari, which is woven from synthetic yarn by needles of different sizes. The bigger version of the ‘Butti’ is popularly known as ‘Butta’. A major difference in the making methods is that the ‘Buttis’ of hand-woven Chanderi sarees, retain their shape and appearance throughout the life of the fabric, with no thread coming out from the ‘Butti’ structure. The same cannot be said for the one woven from synthetic yarn, which tends to lose the initial shape and appearance after some time. This feature is due to the dedicated weaving of the Chanderi handloom weavers.

• Another specialty of the Chanderi saree is the transparency and sheer texture that is the USP of the Chanderi range. of fabrics. The transparency is on account of the single filature quality of the yarn that can be ascribed to the weaving of the fabric done in the degummed (non-removal of the sticky substance or sericin from the silk yarn) state that gives a special shine with transparency to it. This special yarn is used both in warp and weft of different varieties and configurations. The transparent yarn is for cotton as well as silk fabrics. The yarn used in Chanderi fabric is of high quality and extra fine. Because of non-degumining of the raw yarn, the finished fabric produced is extremely transparent and which in consequence result into sheer texture.