Handcrafted Splendours of India

  The origin of Karvati sarees can be traced back to the 18th century CE in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra. These sarees hold a geographical indicator (GI) tag. These sarees are handcrafted using Tussar silk cultivated in Bhandara, Vidarbha, Gondia, and Nagpur regions and are highly regarded for its quality and colour. The word ‘Karvat’ is a Marathi term that refers to a saw-teeth pattern. The Karvati saree derives its name from its border design which resembles saw teeth. A Tussar Karvati Saree is woven with three shuttle weaving to have a solid color border and body. The body is woven in natural colored hand-spun raw Tussar yarn while the border is woven out of mercerized cotton yarn in bright colours with traditional temple motifs of various sizes using an extra warp. Each saree takes 8-12 days to weave based on the intricacies of the saree apart from the time taken for preparing the warp and other preparations and is a perfect example of the dexterity of the weavers in this...