Pattu weaving

Pattu (Shawls or Dhurries) are a customary product woven in the Western Rajasthan region. It is in actuality a span of woollen material worn by womenfolk like a shawl. The Meghwal people weave local wool into slender strips or pattis, that are sewed jointly to form broad shawls known as Pattu, worn by all groups of people in Rajasthan. Pattu fabrics are embellished with a variety of fascinating motifs and patterns including fish, human figures and imagery taken from rural life.

“The textile is laboured upon in a twill lace on a pit loom and innumerable designs are fashioned through the technique of interlocking and extra weft decoration. In the warping, vertical binding strips in harmonizing colours are positioned on the either sides of the loom and the interlocking technique is used to get a pure colour on these bands.”

Furthering the explanation, he says that the bobbin carries a weft in a similar dye as the distinct band, and is used to interlace the bound sections of the bands. Additional weft figuring fetches embroidery-like results on the loom. The weaver then lifts the warp yarns and hands it to insert the extra weft yarn.