Sirumugai Sarees
Sirumugai, சிறுமுகை, is a Panchayat town and a suburb in Coimbatore rural district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is famous for its temples and a huge variety of Handwoven Sarees. It is also called a Traditional Silk bazar.
The Sirumugai village is the home to several handloom artisans and craftsman. This artistry and creative skills is passed on from one generation to the next, along with the handlooms and other equipment. The handloom saree weaving process finds its inception and end at home and each member of the family contributes to the process. Hence, the handloom industry is flourishing and said to have the best of handloom sarees that is very traditionally flamboyant and comfortable to wear.
Silk is the Queen of Textiles and has always been in the lead amongst the entire textile industry since time immemorial for its aesthetic richness and elegance. India ranks second in the world for the production of silk and Sirumugai is one of its major contributors. The way the artisans behave and operate, and their inbred craft that goes into making these sarees is intriguing and captivating.
The sarees are also called Village Cot saree. They are famous for their vibrant colours, simple checkered and striped designs. They are weaved meticulously using fabrics like pure cotton, silk cotton or kora cotton. The sarees are known for its narrow borders and intricate pallus adorned with traditional theme (paisleys, peacocks, mangoes, elephants, swans, and parrots), that are recurring and mirrored across the fabric.
The weaving process include:
+ Drawing out and hand-spinning the fibers to form threads
+ Dying and drying of the yarns
+ Stretching the handspun and dyed yarns by spinning them on the huge drum (warping),
+ Starching the yarns with the help of rice/maize/potato starch (sizing)
+ Weaving the starched yarns into beautiful sarees
One cannot miss being fascinated by the rhythmic astuteness and magic created by the weavers’ hands and feet. They beautifully transform a homogenous row of colourful yarns into woven wonders. It is an organic process on the whole. Albeit it needs a lot of time and involves complex set of tasks that undeniably takes a toll on the artisans’ health, they unquestionable want to be to sticking to traditional methods of handloom sarees.