Gujarat is famous for its colorful traditions, food and beautiful mirrorwork that women wear as folk attire. There’s another specialty that is not so famous – Extra-weft Weaving of Bhujodi (a small village in desert of western Gujrat) shawls in wool on traditional looms.

The weaving is similar to Jamdani of West Bengal where extra threads are inserted in weft direction by hand to make motifs. Traditional motifs are geometrical shapes like diamond, triangle and line and dots based. The motifs were then replicated in organic indigenous cotton of Kutchch region of Gujrat which is our well known and rare indigenous seeds surviving from Indus Valley civilization time. These hardy cotton seeds of old world cotton need no artificial irrigation or pesticides. They naturally grow in this region where cattle and sheep provide manure with their droppings and rain provided the water needs.

Bhujodi weavers village has traditional looms of wood and weaver community is known as Vankar community. They use pit looms and organic cotton yarn made by spinning wheel is used for warp and weft to make beautiful, soft and fluid material of cotton muslin. No chemicals or artificial processes are used – it is all hand made processes that have almost zero carbon footprint.

Kala cotton fabric weaving started having elaborate natural dyed colorful motifs since the start of this century as design intervention by various NGOs like Dastkar and Khamir. Since Printers community of Khatris are also in this region – Ajrakh art form of block printing – dyed yarn in Indigo natural blue, Pomegranate rind yellow, Madder root red, and iron fermented black were being used to make motifs in cotton sarees and stoles.

I started researching on Kala Cotton in 2010 when I needed natural yarns which are toxin-free and hand made. Natural Dyeing as my hobby started in 2007 and I started experimenting with sheep wool, cotton, jute and linen. However, mill made yarn and fabrics did not yield as fast and bright colors as Khadi fabric of cotton and silk sourced from Indian cotton crops and silk worms of Assam (North East) and Karnataka (South India). Pure Indian origin Wool was difficult to source from handmade processes and indigenous wool came as a solution where village communities in Himalayan region (Gaddi sheep) and dry desert of Thar (Bikaneri sheep) and Deccani black sheep of southern regions Plateau of Maharashtra, Telangana and Karnataka.

I focused on White and natural black wool of Gaddi sheep for my research and Kala Cotton of Gujrat for cotton research in dyeing.

Kala Cotton is a very special fiber of smaller length than BT cotton and charkha made yarn (hand spinning wheel of Mahatma Gandhi) has elasticity, softness, and strength as well. The fabric is fluid on body and feels very comfortable. Hand spinning and hand loom weaving makes it breathable and perfect for hot and humid weather. It is toxin free and doesn’t smell after wearing for a full day in hot summer of Indian subcontinent.

Women weavers are very less in Bhujodi, could contact only two of them. Spinners are always women and this special yarn was provided to me by NGO Khamir, Kutchch region. Champa Siju agreed to innovate in design on kala cotton stoles for my brand Indigo Amour in 2018-19 with yarns dyed by myself in Delhi home. A unique background space was created by hand dyed yarns sometime in two to three colors in same skein.

The design research on how can I make stoles as story tellers of Gujrat Kutchch desert life and depict life symbols. Champa smartly acted to pick motifs from Mirrorwork embroidery of traditional Rabari work – Peacock, Bird, Scorpio, tree shape and Hut were chosen for stoles.

Color palette was traditional kind – Indigo, Madder root, Black and yellow. Some stoles were made with lighter pastel tones of natural dyes like Madder root peaches, Himalayan Rhubarb brownish yellow, iron fermented vat grey shades and pomegranate peels deep-greenish yellow.

Tassels were inserted in woven motifs and at the end of the stoles. Stripes in blue and white, blue and red were inserted in the body of the stoles to create contemporary look.

Though the costing went up, yet the stoles gave a strong design statement of storytelling with motifs and colors. Some pictures are attached herewith below.

Traditional shawls with the hallmark extra-weft technique of Kutchh are woven with geometrical motifs and borders. The same motifs are being used on all items – sarees, shawls, blankets, stoles – with some variation in its size and orientation. These motifs are inspired from Nature and day to day life objects. There is no written history of these motifs. A woolen shawl with traditional patterns with extra weft technique is shown below that mentions the names of motifs in Kutchhi language:  

Fig.2: A Shawl with all common motifs with extra weft technique 

The names of some of these traditional motifs are:

1. DHUNGLA – Pyramid type shape, with resemblance to a toy called Dhungla in Kutchchi. 
2. DHOLAKI – Like a dholak instrument, similar to the musical instrument Damru of Lord Shiva
3. PANJKO – A simple diamond shape with picking five yarns, or ghar in the middle. 
4. SATKHANI – A Rhombus shape, which is made by picking seven – seven ghar. 
5. CHOWMUKH – With four faces; a triangular motif with inverted mirror images below and at side. 
6. AAWRA-SAAVRA DHUNGLA – Upside down, cross like X shape filled inside with lines and dots. 
7. LATH – Like a bar, used a border in between motifs 
8. HODADHI – The square block with five elements. 
9. POPTI– Means butterfly in the kutchchi language. There are two type of Popti – Half and full. Full Popti looks like a butterfly with spread out wings, in diamond shape, and the half type resembles a side view with wings superimposed. 
10. WAKHIYO – The zig-zag line motif, looks like a wave. In Hindi it means – Aadi Tedhi.

       Fig 3: Traditional Motifs for extra weft as per the above names and sequence

The traditional usage of extra-weft technique is more evident in woolen shawls and blankets. A desi sheep wool shawl which is hand spun and hand woven is shown below which is called “Dhabla”. 

Fig. 4: Woolen Dhabla Blanket (which may cost from ten thousand to twenty thousand INR)

INDIGO AMOUR Design Intervention:

New Motifs and Design Process 

In their discussions and interviews with the traditional weavers during their field visits, I found that the weavers do not want to experiment with new motifs unless it is an order with ensured financial returns.

This reluctance stems from the difficult and laborious process of using Kala cotton yarn as it is notoriously difficult to handle, and especial care and time is spent while working with it. Also the older hackneyed designs are ingrained in their minds, and the weavers would prefer inertia than to work out new designs. Hence, suggested newer interpretations of traditional motifs, and persuaded some weavers to weave new motifs with natural dyed yarns of Kala cotton yarns. Though, the new motifs look modern, the nature inspired theme was kept intact. 

In the following example, a pair of a peacock and a peahen was made with extra-weft white Kala cotton yarn on a base of blue color indigo dyed yarn in a stole. A “Hut” shape was also introduced in the background of the ends of the stole.

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Fig. 5: a pair of a peacock and a peahen was made with extra-weft and a hut shape in the background of the ends of stole

Another variation was to give a composite shape of peacock with various other motifs in its body, like Dhungla, Popti and Sathghari motifs. Natural Indigo and Madder dyed yarns were used on white background of plain weave in a stole.

Sample 1- shows two peacocks facing each other in close proximity. These motifs were spaced out and another simple diamond motif of “Satkhani” was placed in the middle. Further iterations in proportions of the motif were carried out with refinements in the motifs in the second attempt as seen below.

Peacocks are an integral part of hand embroidery in Kutchchi style, symbols of the monsoon rains in an arid region. These birds are considered auspicious and bring a pleasant and playful mood to viewer. It took a lot of time for Champa to figure out the calculation of weft number in big motifs however, results were unique.

Fig. 6: Sample 1

The multiple borders as seen in traditionally woven designs of Kutchh were limited in the stoles created by the authors, and the colorful tassels used traditionally were now grouped in a tree shape to induce a new design interpretation in the usual tree motifs. 

Fig.7: Tree Motifs: sketch ideas by traditional weaver 

Fig. 8: Final design on stole – front side.                                                Fig. 9:  Back of tree design on stole

The above designs made by Champa Siju, a young woman weaver from Kutchh are actually first of its kind and later on many motifs were used by other weavers in wool and sarees inspired by these innovations. Champa, who liked to think herself as an artist rather than weavers, also made several drawings and samples in weaving before she achieved these innovative motifs. Some of the design process in terms of drawing the tree shape is shown above. 

5.1 The Finished Products: Stoles 

The finished stoles were simpler in design and looked neater with a lot of space around motifs. Repeated borders were eliminated and the main body in the middle was filled with simple stripes in one stole. The use of natural Ecru unbleached yarn as warp and indigo dyed weft gave a Chambray look to the fabric. The loom and stoles used mill-made Kala cotton yarn in the warp and handspun Kala cotton yarn in the weft direction. The handspun yarn was sourced from Khamir, an NGO in Kutchch. The pit-loom is in the weaver’s home and she has recently started selling her products her online. 

Figures 10, 11 &12 shows examples of Design intervention done on finished products by authors at Kutchch with craftsmen. 

Fig. 10:  Finished stoles in Weaver’s home with pit loom in background.	Fig. 11: Stole  with design intervention by authors :  the Hut motifs are bigger in proportion, and balanced with almost geometrical shapes in the Peacock and Peahen motifs.

Fig. 12: The Indigo Blue and Madder Red Stole has a simple border with only one Chaumukh Motif 

Some features of the interventions and innovations by the authors :

• The new designs were cost friendly as too much of repetition was avoided. 
• More of design independence was given to the weaver with focus on his or her creative abilities. 
• Experimentation with shapes, colors, proportion and layouts. 
• Color schemes were kept simpler and not more than two colors were explored in a single motif.
• Only natural dyes like Indigo and Madder were used. 
• Some new lots were given for weaving with more experiments with dyes. Sappanwood, Black from iron rust and Yellow from Gavarchini root and Harda are used in space-dyed yarn hanks of hand spun quality.

Despite the resurgence of the indigenous Kala cotton, there are challenges for sustaining this in future. The mill-made yarn does not possess the qualities of hand-spun yarn which is weaker in comparison, and the weaving process using hand-spun Kala cotton is laborious and time-consuming, with the result that weavers have almost stopped making and using it for hand-loom fabrics. Another challenge is the dwindling use of natural dyes in textiles and abundant use of chemical dyes which are cheaper and easier but come at a considerable cost to the environment.

Therefore, as conclusion, I propose that one of the ways to preserve our traditional crafts is to integrate them into contemporary society by providing them a larger audience in the main stream, by helping traditional textiles evolve into more contemporary forms, and one possible area where these traditional crafts can find application is by using them for modern interiors. 

Some of these rare motif stoles can be purchased from our site http://www.indigo-amour.org page on stoles –

https://www.indigo-amour.org/product/6887aadf784b09ff1975d351

Traditional is very beautiful, but so much effort and cost is needed to preserve it. Support artisans of India who are doing amazing work in Kala Cotton.