At a Glance :

Belongs To : Gujarat

Major Centers : Bhuj, Jamnagar, Mandvi

Known As : Tie & dye, Bandhej

Bandhani, it is a very famous fabric art form. In Gujarat, Jamnagar, Bhuj and Mandvi are popular for their dynamic creations of patterns & designs. Bandhani fabric is mostly used in marriage cloths, which is known as odhni, 'gharchola and sarees. The best Bandhani fabric is only manufactured in India. It is too called as 'Bandhej'; this is made by the finest cotton, mulmul and sometimes muslin which are collective with motifs & gold checks when they use jamdani method.

Dyeing, being a major part of this art. Earlier the clothes were dyed in natural colors which extracted from the flowers & trees. In Ahmedabad, Sarkhei suburb is one of the known manufacturing and exporting center. The most deepness dyeing of the Bandhani is made in Kachchh. Jamnagar, Southern coast of Gulf and Saurashtra are also doing the best work in making Bandhani. In the process of Bandhani making, they tie knot of colored part of cloth and pressed in the tiny points and after that they knot it with two or three threads. Because of this the knotted part remain uncolored, in first round the fabric get dyed with the faded shade and then with the dark shade.

They tie the fabric number of times; it depends on the types of shades. When they sell the Bandhani fabric they decide the cost of the fabric on the amount of shades and the complexity of design. This type of fabric sarees are very much popular and demanded by the women.