Chanderi Fabric
Sheer, glassy cotton-silk with woven gold butis that seem to float in the weave.
Chanderi cloth, from the town of the same name in Ashoknagar district of Madhya Pradesh, is a light, semi-transparent fabric woven from fine cotton, pure silk, or a silk-warp and cotton-weft blend, with a characteristic glassy sheen. Chanderi sarees carry gold or coloured zari borders (nakshi) and small woven motifs — the Ashrafi coin, flowers, peacocks, geometric butis — scattered across the body. The translucency comes partly from using unbleached, non-degummed yarn and a very fine reed.
Craft at a Glance
Origin
Chanderi, Madhya Pradesh
Also Known As
Chanderi silk, Chanderi cotton, asli Chanderi
Craft Type
Fine handloom cotton-silk weaving
Practising Community
The largely Muslim Ansari (Momin) weaving community, with Koli and Koshti weavers, organised through cooperatives and master weavers
Materials
Fine cotton and mulberry silk yarn, often silk warp and cotton weft; gold, silver and coloured zari for borders and butis; minimal sizing to keep the yarn's sheen.
Known For
Translucent Chanderi sarees with nakshi zari borders and hand-woven butis
Where It's Made
Chanderi town in Ashoknagar district, Madhya Pradesh
Time to Create
Three to seven days per saree
GI Status
Chanderi Fabric (Chanderi Saree) is a registered GI of Madhya Pradesh
Process Steps
Winding and light sizing
Fine silk and cotton are wound onto bobbins and the warp is sized only lightly to preserve the yarn's natural shine.
Warping and beaming
The warp is laid for several sarees and wound onto the loom, with the zari border threads placed at the selvedges.
Drafting and reeding
Warp ends are drawn through the healds and a very fine reed, which is key to the sheer, close weave.
Weaving the ground
The translucent plain body is woven on a pit loom, the weaver keeping the beat light and even.
Inserting the butis
Gold and coloured motifs are worked into the body by hand as a discontinuous extra weft, counted thread by thread.
Weaving the nakshi border
The figured zari border is woven on its own warp threads along the selvedge.
Weaving the pallu and finishing
The end-piece is woven with its bands and motifs, and the saree is cut off, checked and folded.
Technique Glossary
Buti
A small isolated woven motif repeated across the field of the cloth.
Nakshi border
A figured zari border woven along the selvedge of a Chanderi saree.
Discontinuous extra weft
Hand-inserted pattern threads used only where a motif appears, giving a clean reverse.
Ashrafi buti
A gold-coin motif, one of the traditional Chanderi butis.
Degumming
Boiling silk to remove the sericin gum; Chanderi deliberately keeps some of it for sheen.
Tana-bana
Warp and weft; a 'pure Chanderi' has silk warp and fine cotton weft, or all silk, or all cotton.
Reed (kanghi)
The comb-like frame that sets the thread spacing; a very fine reed gives Chanderi its sheerness.
A Craft Through Time
Medieval
Trade-town weaving
Chanderi supplies fine cloth to the Malwa and Bundelkhand courts from its position on the plateau routes.
19th century
Yarn changes
Mill and imported yarns replace local handspun cotton, altering the fabric's character.
Early 20th century
Scindia patronage
The Gwalior court patronises Chanderi weaving and the cluster reorients toward sarees.
Late 20th century
Design and cluster support
Craft-development schemes and designers expand the market and the design range.
2005
Geographical Indication
Chanderi Fabric is registered as a GI of Madhya Pradesh.
Present
A weaving town
Chanderi's economy is built almost entirely on the loom, supplying sarees and dress fabric nationwide.
Did You Know?
Chanderi's translucency comes partly from not degumming the silk — the natural gum left on the thread is what gives the finished cloth its faint glassy shimmer.
Every craft has a story. Every story begins with tradition.