When it comes to buying ethnic clothes there are a wealth ofpatterns and techniques which produce really amazing designs and prints that transform simple styles into colourful unique clothes.
This article talks about some of the block printingtechniques that are used to produce the designs and also describes where thedesigns come from.
Many of the prints that you see in stores today originatefrom the Jaipur region of India. This is traditionally a region where textileshave been the main form of work for the people for hundreds of years. Only nowis this changing as companies outsource their industries to India and textiles have to start to take a back seat in the rapid growth of the country.
There is however some companied who carry on the traditionalways of textile printing using techniques that have been used for hundreds ofyears. In this article we will discuss several of the textile techniques thatare used in this area to produce the wonderful original dresses, skirts andjackets that you see in high street stores.
Block printing has been a traditional way of adorningtextiles for hundreds and hundreds of years. The basic idea for this techniqueis that a block is produced out of wood to a traditional pattern. This is thendipped in an ink and used to print a pattern all over a piece of fabric. Thething that makes this technique unique is that depending on the amount of inkon the block the pattern will not be completely uniform ensuring that everygarment made from the piece of fabric will be completely individual in itspattern.
One of the age old traditional block prints is calledSanganer. This print features a common repetition of a flowering shrub called aButa. The cloth was traditionally used for the turban, shoulder cloth andkerchief. Another traditional print is produced in a village called Bagru whichis a large village west of Jaipur. The cloths produced here have previously predominantly been produced for the local community but as demand in the west hasincreased for hand printed cloth their designs have been exported all over theworld. The prints are traditionally printed in a combination of red, black andindigo with highlights in green and yellow. The villagers in Bagru also carryon the traditional prints of Jaipur- this is because the city has expanded soquickly that the textile industry in the area is no longer. Quite often block printing also involves some resist dyeing to accentuate the design and add additional shades tothe design. Mud is often used as a resist. This too is carried out in Bagru togreat effect.
About the Author:
Fiona Muller is a trained textile designer and has written atextile thesaurus. She is interested in fashion and how it can work for anyoneregardless of age, size or race. For a range of garments that use traditionalhand block printing techniques go to -
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