Typical Characteristics of Artisanal Fabrics

All artisanal / hand-made fabrics come with their own inconsistencies which are inherent to the techniques used for making the fabric.

Due to the manual process of weaving the fabric, each meter is like a fingerprint and two meters of fabric from same roll and same loom will be very similar but never an exact replica.

Being handmade, our fabrics may have the following ‘inconsistencies. These should be taken not as defects but as quintessential of the uniqueness which characterises all products made by hand.

• • Broken pick: A weft yarn which is missing for upto 50 milliimeters along the width of the fabric
  • Dropped Pick: A single missing weft yarn along the width of the fabric
  • Broken end / missing end: A lengthwise line where a warp yarn is absent for upto 50 millimeters along the length of fabric..
  • Slubs: Thickened lengths of yarn having tapering ends and a diameter greater than that of the adjacent normal yarn.
  • Knots: Small tangles or knots of fibers appearing on the fabric surface.at random distance
  • Snarl: An unbroken length of warp or weft yarn which is doubled-up in the fabric for upto 50 millimeters.
  • Hole: Two or more adjacent yarns are severed for a length of upto 50 millimeters
  • Cotton Seeds: We use raw yarn i.e. yarn made from unprocessed and unbleached cotton and therefore the black cotton seeds are visible in the undyed fabric.
  • Stains: The weaving is carried out in a decentralized setting at the homes of the weavers and some amount of stains are normal due to weaving conditions specifically in the undyed fabric.
    • We do get the fabric washed once, however, the fabric is laid out in fields or drying and can get other stains. We recommend checking and getting the fabric washed professionally before use.
    • If the undyed fabric is not stored properly it will absorb moisture and lead to yellow stains, please ensure fabric is kept in a dry area and the storage bags are properly sealed.

• Shade Inconsistencies:
  • Undyed Handwoven Denim: While we source the yarn for a single order at the same time, because of the small quantities, we may get yarn from two different lots, which can bring in shade inconsistency in the width or length of the fabric.
  • Yarn Dyed Handwoven Denim:
    • Azofree Reactive Dyes: Exact shade matching is not possible and the shade will vary from lot to lot.
    • Natural Dyes: The process of dyeing yarns is carried out in small lots and subsequently the yarn from various hanks of various lots gets mixed in pre-weaving processes during reeling and warping hance the shade may not be consistent across the width
    • While warping ropes of a fixed number of yarns are created which lends a unique banding / striations character to the fabric and is to be expected.
  • Fabric Dyed Handwoven Denim: This process is also carried out by hand in small lots and the dyed fabric will have some unevenness / patchiness, occasional streaks and spots. These imperfections are to be expected and celebrated as they are a testament to the artisan and sustainability.
    
  • Handspun Handwoven Denim: Unevenness and variation of colour and hue will occur whilst dyeing of yarn / fabric as the yarn has variations in thickness. These are not defects but improves the aesthetics of the fabric where no two creations will be identical.
  • Bleeding & Crocking
    • Fabrics which are dyed with Natural Indigo are expected to bleed and crock in the raw state. Because of the cold dyeing process that we use the bleeding can be expected to be more. The bleeding and crocking will be more for deeper shades of fabric and very little for lighter shades.
    • We supply Natural Indigo fabric in raw state i.e. off the loom fabric without any dip or wash post weaving to clean the dirt and dust etc unless washing is requested by client.

In case the fabric supplied has variations other than the ones mentioned above and some quantity of fabric is unacceptable, total quantity unacceptable along with reasons must be communicated to us within 3 days and the fabric must be returned to us within one week.