Purple Pure Handloom Maheshwari Silk Saree, Meena Buti & Wide Zari Border | Nakshatra

One deep purple carried the whole length, edged in wide bands of gold and bronze.

Why this piece

• 
  Purple, undivided — no contrast panel and no colour block — a single purple held steady the full length, which is the hardest ground to weave evenly.


• 
  Meena buti — small diamond-shaped buti repeating sparsely across the body, dobby-set on the loom rather than applied to the surface.


• 
  Wide borders, two sides — broad metallic borders run down both edges, with distinct horizontal bands where the drape ends.

The colourway

Purple is a long dye to arrive at and a difficult one to keep even, because any drift shows up as a band across six and a half metres. Held steady, as it is here, it takes the gold and bronze of the borders better than almost any other ground — warm metal against a cool colour, so neither one flattens the other.

How it is woven

It comes off a loom in Mominpura, the weaving quarter inside Maheshwar. The loom is a pit loom, sunk into the floor so the weaver works with the treadles below. Every pick of weft goes in by hand, and a dobby sets the buti and the border on body, border and pallu alike. Nothing we sell is machine-woven, and the weaver confirms each piece off the loom.

Small irregularities in the weave come with the method — a slub, a slightly uneven pick. They are the fingerprint of a hand-inserted weft, not a fault in a finished piece.

The border, and how it wears

The border is a bugdi border: the woven border design reads the same on both faces. Turn the edge over at the fall and the figures come up the same way.

It weighs 350 to 360 g at 44 to 46 GSM — weighed here rather than guessed at from the look of it. That is a saree you can wear through a long evening without feeling it on your shoulder, and the body is semi-sheer, so a petticoat goes underneath.

Specification

• 
  Total length: 6.3–6.5 m, including an 80–90 cm blouse piece


• 
  Width: 45–46 inches


• 
  Weight: 350–360 g, measured in-house


• 
  Fabric weight: 44–46 GSM


• 
  Body: semi-sheer; wear it with a petticoat


• 
  Drape: soft, holds its pleats, and stays soft after the first clean


• 
  Loom: pit loom, with the weft inserted by hand


• 
  Patterning: dobby-set, on body, border and pallu


• 
  Finishing: pallu kuchu, selvedge and edges finished; fall and pico on request


• 
  Woven in: Maheshwar, Khargone district, Madhya Pradesh


• 
  Country of origin: India


• 
  Net quantity: one saree with attached blouse piece


• 
  Care: Dry Clean Only

Care and storage

1. Professional dry clean only. Home washing is not recommended.


2. Air-dry in the shade, without wringing.


3. Iron inside out on a low-to-medium setting, under a cotton press cloth.


4. Store it wrapped in breathable cotton or muslin, in a cool dark cupboard.


5. Refold along fresh lines every three to six months.

Dispatch

This piece is held in stock rather than made to order, so hand weaving does not put you in a queue. About half of all orders leave the next day, most go within two to three days, and most orders inside India arrive in three to seven days.

A note on colour

This piece is a single deep purple, bordered in gold and bronze. Screens, camera settings and the light a photograph was taken in all move a shade a little, so the piece that reaches you may sit slightly away from the image on this page. Every colour in this range has been tested for fastness on wash and rub.

Product details

Country of origin: India. Net quantity: one saree with attached blouse piece. Care: Dry Clean Only.

Maheshwar sits on the north bank of the Narmada in Khargone district, Madhya Pradesh, and the looms are in the houses of the weaving quarter rather than in a shed outside town. This saree came off a pit loom there. The weft goes in by hand, pick after pick, and a dobby holds the meena buti so it repeats evenly across a body the length of a room. A single colour with no pattern to hide behind is the piece that exposes a weaver: every unevenness in the beat is visible, so the flatness of the ground is the whole work. Against it the wide borders are built in as the cloth is built rather than laid on afterwards. What comes off the loom weighs 350 to 360 g at 44 to 46 GSM. The border is bugdi — the woven border design reads the same on both faces — and the small slubs a hand-inserted weft leaves behind stay in.

Exchange: *Easy exchange is available within 3 days of receiving the product.
*No exchanges on home decor items.
*Unboxing video is required.

Return: *Only for damaged/wrong products.
*Unboxing video required.
Learn More

1. What exactly do I receive?
One unstitched Maheshwari silk saree, 6.3 to 6.5 m long including an 80 to 90 cm blouse piece attached to the saree, and 45 to 46 inches wide. The blouse piece is unstitched fabric and its price is already in the price on this page. The measurements are uniform across this weave and are measured in-house, not taken from a supplier sheet.

2. Is the saree stitched, and are fall and pico done?
It is an unstitched drape — you pleat and drape it yourself, or have it pre-pleated locally if you prefer. Fall, pico and edge finishing are not done before dispatch, but we will do them on request before the piece is sent.

3. How do I know it is handwoven and not powerloom?
It is woven on a pit loom with the weft inserted by hand, and the patterning on body, border and pallu is dobby-set on the loom. The Handloom Mark is held on record against these pieces, they are woven by master-weaver households in Mominpura, Maheshwar, and the weaver confirms each piece. Nothing we sell is machine-woven.

4. What is a bugdi border?
Bugdi describes the woven border design reading the same on both faces of the cloth. It is woven into the border on the loom, and you can turn the edge over and see it for yourself.

5. How should I clean and store it?
Professional dry clean only; home washing is not recommended. Air-dry in the shade without wringing. Iron inside out on a low-to-medium setting under a cotton press cloth. Store it wrapped in breathable cotton or muslin in a cool, dark cupboard, and refold it along fresh lines every three to six months so no single crease is held for years.

6. Will the colour bleed on the first clean?
Every colour in this range has been tested for fastness on both wash and rub. That is a test result rather than a reassurance. Dry cleaning remains the instruction.

7. What if the shade that arrives is not the shade on my screen?
Screens and camera settings shift colour, so the purple may read a little differently in your own light. If the shade does not match, or you are not satisfied with the quality, we will exchange the piece within the stated window and condition requirements.

8. What is the return and exchange window?
Two days from delivery, and the piece has to be unused, with its tags and its original packaging. Within that window we exchange for a colour mismatch or for dissatisfaction with quality.

9. Is it see-through? What do I wear underneath?
The body is semi-sheer — that is what 44 to 46 GSM and 350 to 360 g of cloth feels like — so it is worn with a petticoat, matched to the body colour or deliberately set against it.

10. Which occasions does it suit?
Festivals, festive family occasions, formal and ethnic dressing, and lighter occasions generally. It also works as wedding and reception wear when you are attending as a guest.

11. What do the motif and border names mean?
Buta and buti are the canonical spellings for the small woven figures scattered across the cloth; the same motif circulates as butta, butti and booti, and they all mean this. Meena buti is one of the named shapes in that vocabulary. Zari (also written jari) is the metallic thread worked into the border and the pallu. On this piece the meena buti repeat all over the body, with wide metallic borders down both edges and horizontal bands at the end of the drape.

12. When will it be dispatched and how does delivery work?
These sarees are held in stock, not made to order. About half of all orders leave the next day, most within two to three days, and most orders inside India arrive in three to seven days. Shipping within India is free, Cash on Delivery is available, and we ship worldwide with international carriage charged on actuals.

13. How long will it last?
Cared for as instructed, this is a piece to keep and to pass on rather than one to wear for a single event. The drape does not stiffen or go slack after the first clean, and the tracked defect and colour-complaint rates on this weave are negligible.

14. The weave looks slightly uneven in places. Is that a defect?
No. A hand-inserted weft leaves small irregularities behind — the occasional slub or an uneven pick — and they are characteristic of hand weaving rather than faults. Every piece is finished at the pallu kuchu, selvedge and edges, and passes a pre-dispatch check before it is packed.