Handstitched Vintage Silk Sari Scarves - Various

Description

Watch our Instagram reel of Emma showing these fabulous double-sided scarves here.

The real beauty of upcycled fabrics is that they each have a history, a unique history. Wearing pieces made from upcycled fabrics you are carrying a story. 

These large vintage scarves are hand embroidered using the traditional Kantha stitch method. See the Kantha tab to find out more about this ancient traditional technique. 

The vintage silk saris are first lovingly washed, then hand stitched together by women in India to create these unique and beautiful pieces. 

The real beauty of these scarves is that they are double sided and each side has a different fabric pattern, making them very unusual and beautiful to wear as you can showcase both sides. 

This particular style features a circle pattern pattern whereby the craftswomen hand stitch decorative circles into the silk to produce this unique embroidered design.

Beautiful coloured cotton threads are used in the stitching and the artisans choose colours to complement the silk fabrics. These truly are works of art!

Look closely at the stitch work to see the amazing circle pattern carefully stitched in repeating ever smaller circles to create this unique design. Also, different colour embroidery threads are used to create a layered pattern effect. 

This is a large scarf that can be used in different ways to create styles; wrapped around once or twice or even hanging loose as a shawl. 

Take a look at our collection of scarves here.

What is Kantha?

'Kantha’ means Patched Cloth. Pronounced “KAHN-taa". The Kantha stitch is a small straight running stitch that is a beautifully simplistic technique that can be compared to the Japanese Sashiko stitching. Both techniques have their roots in recycling and giving new life and purpose to old textiles.

Kantha stitch embroidery is one of the most important textile arts in Eastern India. It can be traced back 500 years. Traditionally Bengali women layered together old discarded clothing with the simple Kantha style stitching to make a bedspread or bed cushion, repurposing the old into something useful and protective.

These scarves perfectly exhibit the Kantha traditional stitch and are made from upcycled silk saris. Every piece is of course unique as different fabrics are used for each. Soft and comfortable to wear as the fabrics have been worn in for you. We would never advocate new silk products but these are vintage.

Specifications 

Approximate size: 190 x 45 cm.
Made in India from vintage silk saris.
Cool hand wash.
Fair trade