Beige & Magenta Madhubani Print Tussar Ghicha Silk Unstitched Suit

A three-piece unstitched suit set in Bhagalpuri tussar ghicha silk, printed
in a dense Madhubani composition of turquoise, rose and mustard on an undyed
beige ground, bordered in deep magenta.

The design is built the way Mithila work is built — the ground filled in
completely so that almost no empty cloth is left. Fish swim through it,
peacocks sit inside lotus roundels, and the spaces between are packed with
petals, leaves and fine dotted fill. Running bands of boxed flowers and
saw-tooth triangles divide one section from the next. The kurta panel carries
the fullest version of the composition; the dupatta repeats it at both ends
and thins out to scattered single flowers across the middle, so it does not
compete with the kurta when the two are worn together.

Both long edges of the dupatta and both ends are finished in a solid magenta
band, with magenta fringe at the ends. The bottom is plain, in a warm tan.

Ghicha yarn is drawn from the outer layers of the tussar cocoon and spun by
hand, so the thread comes off the spindle uneven — thicker in one stretch,
finer in the next. Woven up, that unevenness reads across the cloth as fine
slubs and soft striations, with a matte lustre rather than a shine. The beige
is the natural colour of the cocoon; nothing has been dyed.

DETAILS
Fabric: Pure handloom tussar ghicha silk (kurta and dupatta), plain tan bottom
Kurta panel: 2.50 m
Dupatta: 2.25 m
Bottom: 2.00 m
Work: Madhubani screen print in turquoise, rose and mustard
Border: Solid magenta on the dupatta, both edges and both ends
Colour: Natural undyed beige with magenta; tan bottom
Dupatta finish: Magenta fringe at both ends
Care: Dry clean only. Store folded in cotton muslin, away from direct sun.

CRAFT NOTE
Tussar ghicha is spun and woven in and around Bhagalpur in Bihar, on pit and
frame looms worked by hand. Madhubani painting comes from the Mithila region
of the same state — a wall-and-floor tradition carried by women for
generations, moved onto cloth and paper in the last century. The design here
is screen printed onto the woven silk.