Textiles that we see around are made by three methods- weaving, printing and knitting
Any type of cloth made by weaving or knitting is called a textile. In this article, we will study about different types of clothes worn in India. We will also study how a cloth is decorated.
People in different parts o India wear different dresses. They wear both stitched and unstitched clothes. Men and women wear different kinds of dresses in India. Sarees, lungis, dhotis, Dupatta and turbans are worn in different styles by people of different states. Sari is a long piece of unstitched cloth. It is the most popular dress in India. Lungi is a cloth wrapped around the waist. Dhoti is a rectangular piece of unstitched cloth. It is wrapped around the waist and the legs. Dhoti-kurta is a very common dress in India. Dupatta is a long piece of unstitched material worn around the waist and neck by women, usually with a salwar of Ghagra. Turban is a long piece of cloth wound tightly round the head.
A Maharashtrian saree is roughly 9 yards long. Dupatta and turban can be worn in different styles.
Textiles that we see around are made by three methods-weaving, printing and knitting.
Weaving is a method of making cloth by interlacing long threads in two directions. It is done on a machine called loom. A person who weaves the cloth is called a weaver. Gandhi is used to spin khadi cloth on his charka using yarns of cotton thread.
Printing is the method of decorating a cloth by making beautiful designs on it. The designs or motifs are made using a block or a screen. These are 1) block printing 2) screen printing
Knitting is the method of making clothes, blanket, etc, from woolen or cotton thread using two long needles or machine.
Colorful textiles
All of us wear clothes of different colors. Some of us like dark colors and some like light shades. Some of the colors are not fast. They fade out easily. Red, yellow and blue are called primary colors. We can make many more colors by mixing these colors with one another. They are called secondary colors.
Some do’s and for colored clothes-a) before washing colored clothes, add 2-3 spoons of salt and vinegar in half a bucket of water. Soak colored clothes in this mixture for 15-20 minutes. b) Then wash them. c) Turn them inside out d) dry them in shade
Some don’t for colored clothes- a) do not wash them with light colored clothes. b) Do not put them for drying in direct sunlight. c) Do not keep colored clothes dipped in soap water for a very long time.
Different styles of decorating a cloth
After a cloth is woven or knitted, it is decorated by using any one of the following methods.
Decorating a cloth
Block printing- wooden blocks are carved with different designs. These blocks are then dipped in color and printed on the cloth. Block printing with vegetables- takes a lotus stem and an onion. Cut their portions. Now take a square sheet of paper. Dip the cut-out vegetables in different colored paints. Make print on a sheet of paper.
Batik- wax is spread over the design and after it becomes cold, the cloth is dipped in color. Before the cloth is dipped in color the wax is broken. This gives a unique pattern.
Please do this activity only in the presence of some adult member of your family
Take a Dupatta. Fold it into half. Tie a pencil in its centre tightly with a thread. Take rajma and tie them also with a thick thread tightly all over the Dupatta at equal distances. Boil water mixed vegetables dye. Then dip the Dupatta in this solution and stir it using some big wooden stick. Take it out after a little while. Dry it in shade. After it is dried, open up all the threads and take out the pencil and rajma. You will notice that only the areas that were exposed to dye took the color.
Embroidery- embroidery is done with thread, beads, mirrors and shells. Phulkari of Punjab and kantha of west Bengal are famous embroideries.
Kalamkari- in Kalamkari, designs are painted on cloth with a special type of kalam (pen) Bihar is famous for this art.
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