Steel Grey Tussar Ghicha Silk Saree | Bhagalpuri Handloom

Chandni

A steel grey shot through with silver, bordered on both sides in broad copper zari, with the pallu banded in fine copper stripes and left with a raw edge.

About the weave

There is no print, no painting and no second colour anywhere on this saree. What it has instead is the ghicha — yarn that runs lighter and darker along its length, so a grey dye over naturally golden fibre comes through as silver in one light and warm pewter in another. The cloth changes as you move in it, and it does so from the yarn alone.

The zari is real metallic thread, woven in rather than applied: a wide band along both selvedges and groups of fine lines across the pallu. Copper rather than gold, which is why it sits into the grey instead of jumping out of it.

What it's for

This is the quietest saree in the collection and the most versatile. It carries a working day, a formal evening and a function where you would rather not be conspicuous, and it takes silver, pearl and oxidised jewellery equally well.

Details

• Fabric: Pure handloom Ghicha Tussar silk
• Colour: Steel grey with copper zari
• Border: Broad copper zari, both sides
• Pallu: Copper zari stripe bands with a raw edge
• Body: Plain, with the natural silver striation of ghicha yarn
• Saree length: 5.5 m · Width: 1.10 m
• Blouse piece: 0.80 m, unstitched
• Package contains: 1 saree with blouse piece
• Wash care: Dry clean only

On handloom

Every metre of this saree passed through a pit loom worked by hand and foot. No motor is involved anywhere in the process — the weaver sets the pace, and the cloth carries that pace in it. Bhagalpur has been weaving silk this way for generations, and what comes off its looms does not resemble what comes off the looms at Varanasi or Chanderi. The yarn is different, the water is different, and so are the hands.

On tussar

Tussar comes from silkworms that feed in open forest rather than on cultivated mulberry. That wilder life shows in the yarn — thicker, less even, and carrying a warm honey colour of its own before any dye touches it. Weavers across eastern India have worked with it for centuries. The hand is drier and more open than mulberry silk, which is the point of tussar rather than a shortcoming.

On colour and variation

These sarees are dyed in small lots and woven one at a time, so no two are alike — and no single piece is quite uniform from end to end. You may find the shade deepening a little along the length, a heavier slub where the yarn ran thick, or an edge that wanders by a thread. None of that is damage. Screens also render colour differently, so expect some drift from what you see here.