KotaDoria is a handloom cotton fabric known for its weaving style that makes thefabric translucent and light. Airy and comfortable, it makes a good choice forsummer and its softness and transparency lend it grace, maintain Kavita Chaudhary and Suman Pant.

Masuria, which refers to the cityof Mysore, is the place where the weaving of Kota Doria originated. The finestchecks resemble the masur or red lentil seed. Weavers of Kota Doria were takento Kota in Rajasthan by Rao Kishore Singh, a general in the Mughal army, in thelate 17th and early 18th century. That is how the saris came to be known asKota-Masuria.

Each khat in these saris has 14threads of which eight are of cotton and six are of silk yarn, both intransverse and longitudinal directions. So, the number of ends and picks perinch can be ascertained resulting into 2400 cotton and 1800 silk yarns used inwarp. Nowadays, you also get a mixture of 70 per cent cotton from Coimbatoreand 30 per cent silk from Karnataka.

Today's consumer demands variety.Variation in Kota Doria is possible by using new yarn such as bamboo or acombination of natural yarns. Bamboo viscose or regenerated bamboo is aregenerated cellulosic fibre. In the last few years, more and more productsfrom bamboo fibres have been appearing because it has a unique combination ofproperties. Further variation can be further possible by using new techniquesof designing. One such is extra weft figuring. Decorative effects inmulticolour are often possible through extra threads in weft direction.

Use of bamboo yarn in combinationwith silk for designing of Kota Doria by extra weft figuring is presented here.

Materialsand Methods

100 per cent silk yarn of 332.3Nm, 100 per cent bamboo yarn of 64.6 Nm and 100 reed count were used to preparefabric by extra weft technique.

Dyeing

Bamboo and silk yarns were dyedaccording to colour combination of the warp (dark turquoise blue and gray forbamboo and gray for silk) and weft (black for bamboo and gray for silk).Reactive dyes were used.

Designing

A design was created on CADsystem. Draft and peg plan are:

Warp calculation

Border: 15 inch-wide border at the bottom of the fabric was planned. This was prepared by technique of extra weft. Each khat had 14 threads (eight of bamboo and six of silk yarn). Fabrics were made with 325 khats across the width. Fabrics of 48 inch width were prepared. For making khat with 14 yarns, the following colour combinations were used for warp pattern:

* 1 inch had 6 khats which consisted of 6 x 8 = 48 bamboo yarns. Thus, a border 15 inches wide had 48 x 15 = 720 bamboo yarns.

Dark turquoise blue bamboo yarn was used. I Creel was filled with 16 bobbins of dark turquoise blue. 

Ground: Fabric body was 33 inches wide. Every khat had combination of gray colour (eight yarns of bamboo) and pale turquoise blue colour (six yarns of silk) in warp as well as weft. Body also had six khats per inch. There were total 48 bamboo yarns in one inch. Thus:

* 33 inches wide body had 33" x 48 = 1584 bamboo yarns of gray colour. II Creel was filled with 33 gray bobbins III Creel was filled by 24 bobbins of pale turquoise blue silk.

Peg Warping

After creel filling, peg warping was done separately for bamboo warp yarns and for silk and zari yarns for warp pattern. For peg warping: fabric raw warp length is 8 meter. One round of the peg is equal to 2 yarns so I creel is moved around the pegs 27 times, II creel is moved around the pegs 28 times and III creel is moved around the pegs 42 times.

(I) 16 bobbins of dark turquoise blue x 45 rounds = 720 yarns

(II) 33 bobbins of gray x 48 rounds = 1584 yarns

(III) 24 bobbins of gray x 72 rounds = 2016 yarns

48" width-2304 112 (both side selvedge) = 2416 total no. of warp bamboo yarns and

1" - 6 khats - 6 x 6 = 36 silk yarns

48" fabric width x 36 = 1728 total no. of warp silk yarns

There were total 4144 (bamboo and silk) warp yarns in 48 inches width of fabric.

Sizing Process

Sizing of dyed bamboo warp yarns was done. Rice and onion juice were applied by brush and stick broom. Sizing by brush has been shown in photo C.

Drafting (Piecing and making the jala)

Piecing: This is the process of joining the new warp yarns with earlier leftover yarns on the loom. Piecing has been shown in photo D.

Making harness (jala): In local language, the harness is known as Jala. After piecing, separate harness or jala was made for extra weft. Extra weft yarns were controlled by harness locally called Gate. Cord was used to join all warp design yarns separately with the Gate for extra weft. This has been shown in diagrams 1 and 2. Weaving included designs created with extra weft patterns in metallic brown and black and pale turquoise blue for khat. Decorative effects are often attained through extra threads in weft direction. For this harness, jala was prepared according to design for extra weft, Gate was operated by hand with the help of dori or cord. Two harnesses were used for plain weave for warp ground yarns operated by treadle making khats with 14 yarns (eight yarns of bamboo and six of silk) in warp and weft direction. Drafting order is four bamboo two silk two bamboo two silk two bamboo and two silk in two harness [Warp pattern : : 2A 2B 4A 2B 2A 2B 14M 105(4C 2B 2C 2B 2C 2B) 231(4A 2B 2A 2B 2A 2B)], denting order is 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2 in 100 count reed. Skirt design has been shown in e2 extra weft. Harness (Jala) is made according to design

Weaving

Weight was hung on warp yarns for equal tension during the weaving. Warp and weft yarns were interlaced according to plain weave, one pick of extra weft and one pick for plain binding were inserted alternately. Extra weft interlaced only design area. Wefting order was 4 (one extra weft, one bamboo), 2 (one extra weft, one silk), 2 (one extra weft, one bamboo), 2 (one extra weft, one silk), 2 (one extra weft, one bamboo) and 2 (one extra weft, one silk). Weft colour pattern for palazzo: 1a 1c 1a 1c 1a 1c 1a 1c 1b 1c 1b 1c 1a 1c 1a 1c 1b 1c 1b 1c 1a 1c 1a 1c 1b 1c 1b 1c and for wrap around skirt 1a 1c 1a 1c 1a 1c 1a 1c 1b 1c 1b 1c 1a 1c 1a 1c 1b 1c 1b 1c 1a 1c 1a 1c 1b 1c 1b 1c]. First gate was pulled for warp yarn according to design, after that plain weave interlacing was done for binding.

 

Reference:

1."Kota Doria-Its is a Traditional style of Rajasthan," Fashion Trend in India garments and Apparel industry Depthai.go.th accessed on July 18, 2010, additional information can be accessed at Kotadoria.com

2. Fabrics from the Desert Land 'The Kota Doria' Fibre2fashion.com updated on Feb. 24, 2009.

3."Masuriya or Kota Doria, Textile of Rajasthan" Indianetzone.com published on June 23, 2009.

4. Ministry of textile 2008-09 3. Labourbureau.gov.in

5."Diagnostic Study of Kota" (2002), ayeartomyself.blogspot.in