The royal Maheshwari saree

About Maheshwari Work

Maheshwar is a town in Khargone district of Madhya Pradesh, India, close to Indore. It once had prominence as the capital of Malwa region during the rule of the Holkars. It has been since, a centre of handloom weaving.It is famed for its Maheshwari Sarees, an innovation of a royal queen, Rani Ahalyabai. The Maheshwari Saris are exclusive for their unique designs on silk and cotton fabrics, the fine use of zari and brilliant use of stripes, checks and exquisite floral borders.

The making of a Maheshwari saree goes through five basic stages – designing, procurement, dyeing, separating yarn for warp and weft, weaving and finishing.

Distinctive features of the Maheshwari Saree are its light weight, shiny lustre, and a fine display of colours, with brilliant motifs, an attractive Pallu and a border to match.

The Pallu is particularly noted for the colourful stripes in varied colours such as green, pink, magenta, mauve, violet etc. which lend the fabric a mesmerising look. The border is also adorned by trendy designs and themes such as the Maheshwar fort and similar subjects.

Procurement of raw material is generally from three sources. The Cotton comes from Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, the silk from Bangalore, Karnataka and the Zari from Surat, Gujarat. The dyeing of thread involves napthol dye, wet dye and procion dye for cotton fabrics in various combinations. Silk fabrics are dyed with readymade dyes which just need to be mixed and used directly by dipping the fabric in it. Zari is used for the adornment as thread work directly on the fabric or on patch work attached to the saree. The dyeing of thread yarn takes place prior to the weaving of the fabric. After the dyed yarn has dried, the charka is used for separating of warp on large octagonal drums while the weft is prepared by reeling it onto bobbins. The main weaving takes place according to the pre-determined design with warp and weft and the dobby mechanism on the loom helps with supplementary weft in the border pattern weave. Readied fabrics are then cut into the determined lengths, neatly folded and packed.     

Some of the offerings from Unnati

The vegetable dyed Irish cream Jute Handloom Maheshwari Sico Saree has red Maheshwari prints all over. There is attached brown floral Maheshwari prints border running along Naksi woven border either side. The pallu has Maheshwari block prints with interspersed multi-colour patterns on it. A designer saree it would serve well for office, social visits and small parties. 

The green handloom pure cotton Maheshwari saree has mehandi green and black Maheshwari block printed floral buttis all over with maroon printed borders on either side. This elegant piece would do well for office, social occasions and daily casual wear.  

The Unnati advantage

Unnati silks, the largest ethnic online Indian shop offers exquisite designer Maheswari Work sarees with matching blouse for online sale. Our Online shopping store has the widest range of ethnic Indian Sarees and Salwar Kameez. At Unnati Silks, you can buy unique, exclusive collection at affordable prices.

You can purchase online at Unnati silks and the products will be dispatched within 24 working hours of placing the order. We have Free shipping and Cash on Delivery (COD) facility for Hyderabad, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai, Ernakulum, Delhi, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Patna, Jaipur and many other Indian cities. We also do Worldwide express shipping to countries like United States of America (USA), United Kingdom (UK), UAE, Dubai, Oman, Pakistan, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, Canada, Chicago, New Zealand and others.