Kota Doria Cotton Saree Lemon Yellow Hand Painted Floral

This Kota Doria saree is woven in the lemon yellow tone of early marigold its sheer cotton ground carrying hand painted white blossoms five soft petals a brush of saffron at each centre trailing green leaves scattered loosely down the body and gathering toward the pallu where a quiet orange band closes the fall The fabric is the classic Kota open weave a fine grid of tiny squares the weavers call khat light enough to see through finished with a slim gold zari edge Because every motif here is painted by hand no two flowers sit exactly alike petal edges feather where the brush lifted and the saffron centres vary in weight from bloom to bloom Hold the cloth to the light and the khat grid shows its make each little square blends matte cotton with a few threads of silk so the surface shimmers unevenly rather than lying flat A powerloom Kota print lays a perfect repeating flower onto uniform synthetic squares a handloom Kota Doria like this one shows tiny irregularities in the checks and a faintly coarse airy hand the marks of a pit loom not a machine Kota Doria has been woven for generations in Kaithoon near Kota in Rajasthan where families pass the loom from one hand to the next The fine yarn is traditionally strengthened with a rice or onion starch sizing before weaving which is what lets such a near transparent cloth survive the loom at all Light as a breath it is a saree for daytime warmth a summer lunch a haldi or mehendi morning a festive afternoon worn over a fitted blouse with small gold jhumkas and bare sandals