Textiles of Madhya Pradesh

Madhya Pradesh is known as the “heart of India” due to its geographical location and incredible culture. A prominent element of Madhya Pradesh’s culture is its traditional clothing. In the modernized world, the people of Madhya Pradesh still preserve their traditional clothing heritage.

Madhya Pradesh is known for various printing techniques namely

1. Handblock Printing – In this natural colours are used.
2. Batik Printing – Batik is an ancient art which uses wax and dyes to create a visual magic on fabrics
3. Bandhani – It is a technique of tying and dyeing of cloth.

Weaves of Madhya Pradesh

The Weaving specialties of Madhya Pradesh are: –

• Chanderi is a finely woven fabric with zari work. Two types of fabric are used to create chanderi fabric – cotton and silk. The fabric is light weight, delicate and hand woven. Motifs on chanderi are nature based mostly flowers, trees, leaves, earth and sky. Chanderi fabric is appropriate for summers due to its light weight.

• Maheshwari fabric is among the finest handloom fabrics in India. Like Chanderi, Maheshwari is also woven in cotton and silk. Golden thread (zari) is extensively used in Maheshwari work. They are mainly used to make motifs and borders of sarees. Motifs on Maheshwari are again nature based mostly ambi, buta, mayor, hansa, bel phool etc. The sarees are overall simple in design with checks, stripes and small round designs.