Uppada Pattu Sarees – History

Uppada village is located 39 KMs from Kakinada, it is a beach town which comes under East Godavari district in the state of Andhra Pradesh.

Uppada Pattu Sarees are famous for its beautifully designed cotton sarees. Uppada is a village where modernization and upgrading has not yet found its place. The people are very poor and under educated here with an approximate population of 25000 in the village. Yet the people here enjoy there simple life.

Uppada Pattu Sarees / Uppada Silk Sarees are very famous and well known for its unique designs.

Padmasali community is the major caste here engaged in the weaving of these sarees which have artistic zari work in their beautiful designs.

The age old Jamdani weaving method is used to produce sarees. Only non-mechanical techniques are used to produce these sarees Jamdani is a hand loom woven fabric made of cotton, which traditionally was referred to as muslin.

Find out how Uppada Pattu Sarees / Uppada Silk Sarees are weaved, what is the specialty and its price range…

This weaving tradition of Jamdani is of Bengali origin. Uppada Pattu Saree / Uppada Silk Sarees is defined by the length and breadth count of the threads used.

The count which is used in weaving gives the softness and hardness to the fabric. In hand loom fabric count means the number of threads woven length wise and breadth wise this is also known as warp and wept respectively in a square inch.

In Uppada the count which is used is 100 (length) – 120 (breadth) respectively. The count makes the quality of the fabric. These sarees typically have the finest form of pure silk threads in warp and wept.

Jamdani made in Uppada has 2 weavers working on just one single loom weaving very delicate and exquisite designs on the fabric themed with gold sliver Zari and dupion.

As these sarees are done solely by hands, sometimes it may even take two meticulous months to finish just one saree. With its magnificent luminous look and light weight, Uppada soft pattu sarees are one among the most expensive varieties of Silk sarees in the world. They are appreciated greatly worldwide and are also regarded as one of the foremost contributors in Indian textile.

In fact the Victoria and Albert Museum of London has a fabulous collection of Jamdanis including Uppada Pattu sarees / Uppada Silk Sarees.

How the Coloring is done

Firstly the yarn is washed and then it is dipped in the desired color which is kept in a boiler and a worker goes on turning this yarn so that the color is mixed evenly and properly in the yarn.

This is the most important aspect in the process of mixing the colors and this gives a unique and durable color to the fabric. And after this it is again washed and dried.

Once washed and dried these yarns are then starched. Starching will give the color in the yarn a more permanent look and nature and also gives the yarn a polished look.

This starched yarn is taken from the suppliers by the main weavers and is given to weavers. (Main/Master weavers are also weavers and they have a group/team of weavers under them). And then this yarn is turned in a charka. This turning of yarn in the charka is where the yarn actually becomes into thread, which is used for wept.

The next process is the loading of the yarn. Yarn is loaded into the looms.

The yarn’s length which is loaded as warp is called as Pacham. Four sarees can be made from one pacham. Generally it takes a week to weave one Pacham i.e four sarees.

The cost of Uppada Pattu Saree / Uppada Silk Saree ranges from 5,000 to 80,000 and can go up to 3 Lakh in case of wedding sarees which are ordered specially.

Weaving: – In Uppada the looms used are mostly Frame looms.

Frame looms are the looms which are fixed in a frame and the looms peddle will be at the ground level and the weaver’s sit on a stool/bench and with the help of hands and legs weave the sarees.

None of these weavers are trained but they have learnt this unique skill genetically, traditionally from their ancestors.

These hand looms from Uppada are World famous for their softness and durability.

Uppada Pattu sarees / Uppada Silk Sarees are in huge demand worldwide. These hand loom sarees are soft, comfortable and elegant to wear and also they suite to all the climates.

Mainly Uppada looms produce sarees, but now as per the demand and trend dress materials too are weaved.

How to protect Your Uppada Pattu Sarees / Uppada Silk Sarees

We recommend Uppada Pattu and Silk sarees to be dry cleaned for the first time.

Then on from the second time onwards, mild detergent can be used. Also they should never ever be dried directly under the sunlight.