High silk prices drive patola weavers to cotton

VADODARA: Since 35 years now, Vitthal Vaghela, 66, is keeping the traditional art of patola weaving in Somasar village of Surendranagar alive.
With the prices of silk touching the roof, the Vaghela family was desperately in search of newer market. But making a shift from silk yarns to cotton yarns wasn't so easy.
It is now that the traditional art has got a new life thanks to the support that weavers of Somasar have received from researchers of MS University's Department of Clothing and Textile.
“Silk is costly with each kilo costing anywhere between Rs 5,500 to Rs 6,000 ­ making it affordable only to the rich. Plus, we had to procure 'resham' from Bangalore. In contrast, cotton which costs nearly Rs 300 per kilo is not only cheaper, easily available but also has good demand,” explains Vaghela.
“But when we started dyeing on cotton, the colours did not remain on the fabric for long and that's why we needed some scientific help,” says Vaghela, one of the oldest weaver of Somasar where the community has a population of 3,000 of which 1,500 households are from Vaghela community. Presently about 30 households in Somasar are actively working in weaving or allied trades.
“Thanks to support from teachers and students from Vadodara's MSU, we have started preparing 'dupattas' and 'dresses' from cotton yarns and will soon go for shirts, cushion covers, curtains among others,” says Vaghela, adding that the new technique has helped open new markets and attracted attention of youth.
“Our objective was to train artisans in this small village in design development and value-addition,” says Ankita Patadiya, project fellow of the project titled 'developing natural dye colour palette and its use in traditional crafts for product diversification and value addition'.
After applying a tool Human Center Design developed by professor Wendy Weiss, textile design expert from United States' Nebraska and a Fulbright-Nehru Senior Research Scholar, MSU researchers developed a training programme for the artisans of Somasar.
“Both silk and cotton are fibre but there is difference between the method and type of dyeing that has to be used. For dyeing silk, the artisans were using acid. But after our training, they have started using eco-friendly reactive dye for cotton,” said Patadiya, who carried out the project under guidance of project co-ordinate professor Anjali Karolia, under Departmental Research Support project of the University Grants Commission's special assistance programme.
“Reactive dye is eco-friendly and has excellent fastness properties for cotton yarn,” who visited Somasar several times to make the artisans learn the technique between January 2015 and April 2015.