Kota Doria Dress Material Biscuit Floral Yoke

This cotton dress material is a two piece unstitched set a biscuit beige top length with a matching dupatta woven in the sheer khat check of Kaithoon near Kota The top is finished with a multicolour resham floral neckline yoke and placket where pink coral and orange blooms climb a green vine while the dupatta carries scalloped multicolour floral vine borders down each length with small floral sprigs across the field Kota Doria is known by its khat the tiny square graph of the weave formed by alternating fine cotton and silk yarns a common khat runs to roughly fourteen threads a square Hold the cloth to the light and you should see a clear even grid of transparent squares the yarn looks faintly uneven and slubbed where it was spun and woven by hand and the squares drift by a hair across the width A powerloom or printed imitation shows a flat perfectly regular mesh with no slub and no give The embroidery is a second cue the coloured resham thread work sits slightly proud of the surface the floss shading is worked stitch by stitch and you can trace the stitch path on the reverse a printed embroidery stays flat and mirrors evenly through to the back Kota Doria is a GI tagged handloom woven on pit looms in and around Kaithoon a weaving cluster near Kota in Rajasthan where families have worked this cotton and silk square weave for generations The open weave is what keeps the cloth so light and airy a quality prized through the Indian summer and genuine handloom pieces from the cluster carry a small GI mark woven into one corner Tailored into a kurta with the matching dupatta this warm biscuit set with its hand worked neckline dresses up nicely for festive lunches and family functions Pair with gold jhumkas and matching juttis to keep the focus on the embroidery