Design Resource
Dharmavaram Silk Weaving
The Making of Silk Threads
by
Setting The Loom
The pit loom, which is locally called ‘Maggam’ by the weavers in Dharmavaram, is identified by the heavy wooden frames. The loom is controlled by punched cards with punched holes, each row of which corresponds to one row of the design. Multiple rows of holes are punched on each card and the many cards that compose the design of the textile are strung together in order. And then the warp is loaded in to the loom by attaching each strand of warp to the loom. This process is locally called ‘achhu’. After setting the warp the weaver enters into the loom to starts weaving, it takes nearly 5 to 6 days to complete one sari.
