Sambalpur is one of the place in my state famous for producing best quality silk saris with unique and attractive designs known as Sambalpuri Saree that takes heart of any woman. Its a must to have in your wardrobe, being suitable for any occasion, be it modern or traditional.
They are a bit expensive , based on the quality and design, but if you come to know the complicated process of making them, then you will for sure agree to pay the price. Usually you can get decent good quality in the range of Indian Rupees 3000 - 13000 ( USD 50 - 200 approx.) , BUT there are also high quality which could cost you up to 2 lakh ( 3000 USD).
Here are some typical designs
The Sarees are woven using silk threads, which is produced by Silk worms. The Silkworms, during caterpillar stage of the silk moth, are fed mulberry leaves till they start spinning cocoons and then these cocoons are processed to produce silk thread. If you have not seen silk worms this is how they look like :
Here is how cocoons look like :
These Cocoons are then processed to produce the silk thread. If they would have been allowed to develop, the silkworms would turn into moths and escape the cocoons as butterfly like this :
The silk threads produced out of the Cocoons are dyed with natural colors to make different colored threads.
And they are then spinned to make rolls that could be utilized to weave a saree.
The sarees are handwoven which takes at least a week or more depending on the quality of work. And the quality of the work along with the silk quality decides the final price of the saree. Its still said that the weavers are underpaid compared to the time and effort they spend to create such quality sarees.
Here are some sarees that are ready to be sold.
Sarees being sold in shops
One from my collections, costing around INR 18000 ( 300 USD).
