Cotton Sari Weaving
Pure cotton which is the basic raw material used, is coloured by boiling the cotton threads in a very high-temperature dye bath. The coloured cotton is sized and loaded into a loom for weaving cotton saris. The detailed process of weaving cotton sari is given below:
Dying:
The cotton threads are put into the boiling dye bath for a few minutes for absorbing the dye colour. A longer boiling process helps the colour fixing proper and stays longer and doesn’t fade. Later, the coloured threads are washed in cold/normal water and kept out to dry at room temperature. The coloured cotton is then sent for spinning and warping processes.
Spinning:
The cotton threads from the rolls or bobbins are spun into the spindle. Spindles are prepared according to the contrasting colours of threads, according to the design and patterns of the sari to be woven. Later these spindles are interlocked in the flying shuttle. Then a handmade spinning wheel helps the artisans to spin the threads and make it easy for weaving without any breakages in the threads. The spinning process is done with the help of the Charka-Spinning wheel.
Warping:
After the spinning process is completed, warping is done to support in stretching of threads. The cotton threads are reeled into the circular shaped wooden machine for the warping. The threads are stretched and tied at the opposites. Then cotton threads are checked to make sure there are no damages. After examining the warp, it is spun to warp beam and sent to weaving.
Weaving:
The saris are woven on handloom weaving. The warp threads are loaded into the warp beam and weaving is done with the help of heddles and a foot pedal. The flying shuttle is passed through the warp shed to progress the weaving. The weavers use different types or multi-colours of spindles according to the designs and texture of the saris. For multi-coloured borders, the coloured threads are included in the selvedges/borders along with the main warp.
Process Flow Chart:
