From a silkworm on a mulberry leaf to six yards on the loom: how a handwoven silk saree comes to be, step by step, and how to know the silk you are buying.
General guidance This is how silk sarees are commonly made in India. Methods vary between weavers, regions and sarees.
From silkworm to saree
- 01
The silkworm
Most silk sarees are woven from mulberry silk, made by the caterpillar of the silk moth, Bombyx mori. Silkworms are reared on trays in a clean, warm room, where they grow for about a month.
- 02
Mulberry leaves
Their only food is the leaf of the mulberry tree, given fresh several times a day. Farms grow mulberry for this alone, so silk begins in the field.
- 03
The cocoon
When it is fully grown, the silkworm spins a cocoon around itself from a single continuous filament, glued together by a natural gum called sericin. One filament can run to several hundred metres.
- 04
Boiling and reeling
The cocoons are cooked in hot water to soften the gum, then the ends of several filaments are found and reeled together onto a wheel as one thread of raw silk. Cooking the cocoons ends the life of the pupa inside; 'peace' or ahimsa silk is made from cocoons the moth has left, and is spun rather than reeled.
- 05
Twisting into yarn
Raw silk is too fine to weave on its own, so threads are doubled and twisted together into a stronger yarn. More twist gives a crisper fabric; less gives a softer one.
- 06
Degumming and dyeing
The yarn is boiled in a mild soap solution to wash out the gum. This is what gives silk its soft hand and its sheen. The yarn is then dyed in hanks, often before weaving, so the colour runs right through.
- 07
Setting the warp
On the handloom, hundreds or thousands of lengthwise threads (the warp) are set up side by side, each passed through the heddles and the reed in order. Setting the warp is slow, careful work.
- 08
Weaving the body, border and pallu
The weaver passes the crosswise thread (the weft) through the warp with a shuttle, one line at a time. The body, the borders along each side and the pallu at one end are woven as one piece, the designs lifted by a jacquard or by hand.
- 09
Zari, the metal thread
Zari is the shining thread of a silk saree's border and pallu. Pure or real zari is a fine silver wire, coated with gold, wound around a silk core. Tested zari has a copper wire, plated with silver and gold, instead. Imitation zari is a metallic-coated polyester film. All three can look alike when new; pure zari is the costliest, and a seller should be able to tell you which one a saree has.
- 10
Finishing
Off the loom, the saree is checked for faults, loose ends are trimmed, and it is washed or pressed and folded. Some are given a light finish to set the sheen. Then it is ready to be worn, and kept for years.
Kanjivaram and Banarasi
The two best-known silk sarees of India, from opposite ends of the country.
| Feature | Kanjivaram | Banarasi |
|---|---|---|
| Where | Kanchipuram, in Tamil Nadu | Varanasi (Banaras), in Uttar Pradesh |
| The silk | Heavy mulberry silk, often woven with three-ply threads, which gives the saree its weight and body | Fine silk, often lighter; also woven in organza (kora), georgette and other bases |
| Borders and pallu | Often a contrast border and pallu, joined to the body by the korvai technique, where the colours are interlocked by hand as the saree is woven | Rich brocade, where the pattern is woven in with extra weft threads of zari or silk |
| Techniques | Korvai, where the contrast border (and often the pallu) is woven with its own shuttles and interlocked with the body, so the colours meet in a clean line | Kadwa, where each motif is woven separately with no loose threads behind; and fekwa, where the extra threads float across the back and are cut away |
| Motifs | Temple borders, checks (kattam), stripes, peacocks, parrots and the mango (mangai) | Mughal-inspired florals and creepers (bel), small buttis, the kalga and jaal all-over patterns |
| Protected name | Kancheepuram Silk is a registered Geographical Indication | Banaras Brocades and Sarees is a registered Geographical Indication |
How to tell pure silk
- Look for the Silk Mark
- The Silk Mark is a label from the Silk Mark Organisation of India, set up by the Central Silk Board, that assures a product is made of pure, natural silk. Ask whether a saree carries it.
- The burn test
- Pull a single thread from a hidden edge, never the saree itself, and hold it to a flame over a steel dish. Silk burns slowly, smells like burnt hair, stops burning when taken away from the flame, and leaves a black ash that crumbles to powder. Polyester melts and shrinks into a hard bead and smells of plastic.
- Feel and sheen
- Pure silk feels smooth and warms to your touch, and its sheen shifts softly with the light. These are hints, not proof: good synthetics can feel and shine much the same.
- Ask about the zari
- For a zari border, ask whether it is pure, tested or imitation zari. The answer changes what a saree is worth, and a good seller will tell you.
Safety first. Do the burn test only on a single loose thread, over a steel or ceramic dish with water close by, away from children and anything that can catch fire. Ask the seller before you pull a thread.