Kalamkari Cotton Saree

Machilipatnam’s Kalamkari art of printing on fabrics is world famous. Kalamkari is known to be a healing fabric, as the colors, motifs and the narration of magical forms create an aura that heals an individual physically and spiritually. This technique involves dye-painting on fabrics with a block using eco-friendly natural vegetable colors.

This art style evolved during the Mughal rule and flourished under the Golconda Sultanate. It is rendered on to a wide variety of textile products such as wall hangings, clothing bed sheets, curtains, sarees etc. The speciality of the Kalamkari painted fabric is that the finished products are mellow , bright colours are used but the finish is very subtle . The fabric looks better and better with every wash , with designs standing out even better against the background.

The production of Machilipatnam Kalamkari is geographically limited to Pedana town, Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh. While Pedana and Machilipatnam are the hubs for hand block- printed Kalamkari, Srikalahasti in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh is known for the pen- drawn format.

Kalamkari process begins by first washing the fabric with cold water to remove the starch. Once the fabric is dry, it is allowed to soak in a special solution prepared from myrobalan fruit and buffalo milk. After 15-20 minutes, the excess solution is squeezed out and the fabric once again left to dry in natural sunlight for 15-20hours to lend it more softness.