Banarasi Saree

The Banarasi saree tracks or is encouraged by the Mughal designs. The Banarasi sarees came into existence in the course of the Mughal times when Muslim artisans and craftsmen chose Banaras as the dwelling that unified well with their culture and started weaving silk Banarasi sarees. It is also noted that the weavers were earlier focused in cotton weaving and have switched to silk weaving past fourteenth century. They also got specialized in brocade weaving. It is a textile in which patterns are created by thrusting the pattern threads (Zari) between the warp. Zari brocade involves use of gold and silver threads to create a glittering embossed pattern appearance.

Shahar Rugs International firmly believes that offering quality approved products to the clients aids to attain their maximum satisfaction. Made available in a variety of colors, designs, patterns and sizes, our products are not only demanded in the domestic markets but also in the international markets including U.S. A., U.K and Gulf Countries.

Our Banarasi silk sarees in a multitude of colour, ranging from the royal reds and purples to creams, blues and greens in their various shades, showcase the richness of Indian fabrics and designs. We also carry multi-coloured sarees that are a perfect combination of colours and uniqueness. Banarasi sarees has retained the ethnic Indian grandeur and brings traditional and classic beauty back in fashion.

Weaving Process:
At Shahar Rugs International, our design aesthetic carefully builds on the rich vocabulary of Banarasi textile traditions. Many of our weaves are decidedly traditional, but each is unique in its artistry, authenticity of materials and craftsmanship, each a sublime realization of complex know-how.

Jacquard cards – Saree designs:

The desired design that is to be worked on the saree is drawn on a sheet of graph paper. The designs sometimes are hand drawn or mostly done in pixel calculations and printed on the graph sheet. This graph sheet becomes the reference to punch the cards. They are made to a set of cards that will be tied together and loaded to the jacquard machine. A large brown sheet is cut into small rectangle sheets of height 3inches and width of 12inches approximate. Then these cards are punched following the graph sheet that will have the desired designs. Once these cards are punched they are tied together. The Jacquard cards are completed to be loaded to the jacquard machine.

The yarns-Reeling-Dyeing:
The raw silk yarns are processed they are dyed with suitable colors. The weaving is done and later the dyeing process is carried on. It follows something that of a tie and dye process. Sarees like chiffon undergo this tie and dye process (the yarn is tied where the color gets applied to the rest of the untied yarn). The yarn after the initial stages of processing and dyeing it is segregated to undergo warping and weft processes.

The threads are spun to spools with the help of spinning wheel to prepare the spools to load to the fly shuttle, the threads that fill up through fly shuttle is called weft. The warp threads are got ready by spreading them lengthwise creating pulls and is rolled to beam which is later fixed to the loom.

The Weaving:
The loom is set up with the threads and the process of weaving is began before which the jacquard cards are fixed to the jacquard machine and following the cards the threads are pulled and the desired design and the saree is weaved. In weaving warp, craftsmen build the base that runs of the required length. Once the punched cards are prepared those are spun with altered threads and colours on the loom allowing to design and are paddled in an orderly manner that the main weaving picks up right colour and pattern to produce the design and weave as well. For every inch of saree that is going to be weaved, design is done accordingly, inch wise. If the designs are symmetrical then only half of that design is drawn and the rest of the design is traced. Sometimes there are additional set of threads merged into the weft between the regular weft threads to bring up the attractive design supplementary to the elementary weave.
 
Iterations:
Choosing and balancing colours in a pattern or "Meena-matching" as we like to call it, is an integral part of our design process and perhaps, one of the most significant determinants of the overall aesthetic appeal of a hand-woven textile. Once a pattern has been designed, graphed with a certain number of colours in mind, and set up on the loom, individual colours are carefully chosen for each element. A swatch is then woven to assess the selections. After several iterations and engaging discussions between the design team and the weavers, a beautiful saree emerges.

Finishing:
Depending on the weaving technique employed, Banarasl sarees need to go through the final process of cutting. This involves manually cutting the tiny threads left on the reverse of the fabric. The sarees are then folded and packaged.