The Special appeal of the Patan Patola

- What distinguishes Patola weaving from other traditional ways of making a saree is that tie & dye process using natural dyes is done.

- Natural colors like Catechu, Cochineal, Indigo, Turmeric, Natural Lac, Harde, Madder roots, Manjistha, Ratnajyot, Katha, Kesudo, Pomegranate skin, Henna, Marigold flower, etc are used to display vibrant colours in the silk saree or fabric.

- Alum, copper sulphate, ferrous sulphate, tin chloride, potassium dichromate and other mordents are also used in the tedious dyeing process.

- Another feature that distinguishes hand dyed Patolas from other textiles is that the silk fabric will wear out or tear but will not fade in colour.

- All this comes to actually the method of hand weaving that originates from Ikat or a method of weaving that uses a resist dyeing process similar to tie-dye on either the warp or weft silk fibres.

- Patan Patola uses the double ikat process involving resist dyeing similar to tie-dye method on both warp as well as weft silk fibres, and is tedious and backbreaking. yet the end result is phenomenal which fetches it its price.