The Indian attire – SAREE

Being an Indian Saree is not new for me , but for some it is totally a new subject. I would like to share a bit about it. It is a elongated stretch of cloth material, from 5 to 9 meters as required by the style of draping. Sarees are made of different materials. There are a variety which you can choose from depending upon the persons taste. You can get it in varied colors whatever you may think of. Sarees are weaved out of different materials like cotton, silk, georgette, chiffon,  polyester,crepe  etc.  They are either hand loom made which are expensive or machine weaved. It can we worn for any function , at home in office, marriages, just anywhere. There are different ways of draping it. It’s draping style changes from region to religion, from north to south, depending upon the culture, and history and climatic conditions.

Women of Tamil Nadu wear silk sarees on special occasions. The Brahmin community wear the saree in a slightly different way without wearing the long skirt. The length of the saree which they wear is longer (nine yards) than the usual one. It is wound separately on both legs in a proper way without restricting the person’s free movement.

Kanchipuram in Tamil Nadu and Mysore in Karnataka are famous for their unique silk and cotton sarees.
Andhra Pradesh is famous for its cotton sarees which is designed with jerry and thread. The sarees woven at Venkatagiri and Pochhampalli in Andhra are famous. Cotton sarees of Bengal is ideal as a summer wear.

In Kerala, women wear their traditional two piece cloth called mundu and neriyathu. The ‘mundu’ (one piece) is draped on the lower part of the body. The second piece; ‘neriyathu’ is worn on top, over a blouse in the same way as the sarees. This mundu also called ‘Settu Mundu’ is the traditional attire. The mundu was worn in a different way by the women of the royal families.Sarees are worn in different ways in many places,especially in Gujarat, Manipur, Maharashtra and Coorg (Karnataka).Saris are woven with one plain end (the end that is concealed inside the wrap), two long decorative borders running the length of the sari, and a one to three foot section at the other end which continues and elaborates the length-wise decoration. This end is called the pallu; it is the part thrown over the shoulder in the nivi style of draping.

The most commonly used method is depicted in the pic below.

In past times, saris were woven of silk or cotton. The rich could afford finely-woven, diaphanous silk saris that, according to folklore, could be passed through a finger ring. The poor wore coarsely woven cotton saris. All saris were handwoven and represented a considerable investment of time or money.
Simple hand-woven villagers’ saris are often decorated with checks or stripes woven into the cloth. Inexpensive saris were also decorated with block printingusing carved wooden blocks and vegetable dyes, or tie-dyeing, known in India as bhandani work.

More expensive saris had elaborate geometric, floral, or figurative ornaments or brocades created on the loom, as part of the fabric. Sometimes warp and weft threads were tie-dyed and then woven, creating ikat patterns. Sometimes threads of different colors were woven into the base fabric in patterns; an ornamented border, an elaborate pallu, and often, small repeated accents in the cloth itself. These accents are called buttis or bhuttis (spellings vary). For fancy saris, these patterns could be woven with gold or silver thread, which is called zari work.
Sometimes the saris were further decorated, after weaving, with various sorts of embroidery. Resham work is embroidery done with colored silk thread. Zardozi embroidery uses gold and silver thread, and sometimes pearls and precious stones. Cheap modern versions of zardozi use synthetic metallic thread and imitation stones, such as fake pearls and Swarovski crystals.

Sarees are a part of our culture and we have a reverence for the outfit.

            If you still have problems regarding how to drape a saree , you can view this thread and learn more about it http://www.saahilexclusive.com/pages.php?pageid=15