One deep purple carried the whole length, edged in wide bands of gold and bronze.
Why this piece
Purple, undivided — no contrast panel and no colour block — a single purple held steady the full length, which is the hardest ground to weave evenly.
Meena buti — small diamond-shaped buti repeating sparsely across the body, dobby-set on the loom rather than applied to the surface.
Wide borders, two sides — broad metallic borders run down both edges, with distinct horizontal bands where the drape ends.
The colourway
Purple is a long dye to arrive at and a difficult one to keep even, because any drift shows up as a band across six and a half metres. Held steady, as it is here, it takes the gold and bronze of the borders better than almost any other ground — warm metal against a cool colour, so neither one flattens the other.
How it is woven
It comes off a loom in Mominpura, the weaving quarter inside Maheshwar. The loom is a pit loom, sunk into the floor so the weaver works with the treadles below. Every pick of weft goes in by hand, and a dobby sets the buti and the border on body, border and pallu alike. Nothing we sell is machine-woven, and the weaver confirms each piece off the loom.
Small irregularities in the weave come with the method — a slub, a slightly uneven pick. They are the fingerprint of a hand-inserted weft, not a fault in a finished piece.
The border, and how it wears
The border is a bugdi border: the woven border design reads the same on both faces. Turn the edge over at the fall and the figures come up the same way.
It weighs 350 to 360 g at 44 to 46 GSM — weighed here rather than guessed at from the look of it. That is a saree you can wear through a long evening without feeling it on your shoulder, and the body is semi-sheer, so a petticoat goes underneath.
Specification
Total length: 6.3–6.5 m, including an 80–90 cm blouse piece
Width: 45–46 inches
Weight: 350–360 g, measured in-house
Fabric weight: 44–46 GSM
Body: semi-sheer; wear it with a petticoat
Drape: soft, holds its pleats, and stays soft after the first clean
Loom: pit loom, with the weft inserted by hand
Patterning: dobby-set, on body, border and pallu
Finishing: pallu kuchu, selvedge and edges finished; fall and pico on request
Woven in: Maheshwar, Khargone district, Madhya Pradesh
Country of origin: India
Net quantity: one saree with attached blouse piece
Care: Dry Clean Only
Care and storage
- Professional dry clean only. Home washing is not recommended.
- Air-dry in the shade, without wringing.
- Iron inside out on a low-to-medium setting, under a cotton press cloth.
- Store it wrapped in breathable cotton or muslin, in a cool dark cupboard.
- Refold along fresh lines every three to six months.
Dispatch
This piece is held in stock rather than made to order, so hand weaving does not put you in a queue. About half of all orders leave the next day, most go within two to three days, and most orders inside India arrive in three to seven days.
A note on colour
This piece is a single deep purple, bordered in gold and bronze. Screens, camera settings and the light a photograph was taken in all move a shade a little, so the piece that reaches you may sit slightly away from the image on this page. Every colour in this range has been tested for fastness on wash and rub.
Product details
Country of origin: India. Net quantity: one saree with attached blouse piece. Care: Dry Clean Only.