Origin & Technique:

Brocade fabric generally has floral or geometric patterns that are introduced usually during the weaving process. It’s not embroidery some find it confusing Brocades with embroidery. Brocade is a term exclusive to the art of weaving although brocade fabrics are often embroidered upon.

Brocade fabric need not be a pure silk one to be called a brocade. It could as well be a Cotton Brocade, a Cotton Silk Brocade, or a Linen Brocade etc.

Technique – Any fabric is woven by the interplay of the warp and the weft, so any additional weft thrown by the weaver that only weaves the motifs and independent of the ground is a brocade weave. However, there are some weaves Jamawar or Tanchoi where the design or motifs are created using the primary weft itself.

There are essentially two kinds of brocade – the continuous Brocade is known as Fekuan and discontinuous Brocade Kadhuan. In the Fekuan brocade, the extra width runs end-to-end weaving motifs across the width of the fabric. If the motifs cover only a small are on the fabric, there are often floating extra weft on the back which are very carefully clipped off. This is also known as Cutwork or Katruan. In the Kadhaun brocade, the extra weft does not run across the fabric width hence no cuts at the back as there are no floating extra weft. On the contrary, the weaver weaves each motif individually, along with the cloth. This makes the motifs sharper, provides more creative scope to add number of colors in motifs, and makes the fabric more comfortable to the skin due to absence of cuts. Essentially Kadhuan Brocade is the epitome of handloom brocade weaving in India and is very time consuming. 

Origin & Technique:

Brocade fabric generally has floral or geometric patterns that are introduced usually during the weaving process. It’s not embroidery some find it confusing Brocades with embroidery. Brocade is a term exclusive to the art of weaving although brocade fabrics are often embroidered upon.

Brocade fabric need not be a pure silk one to be called a brocade. It could as well be a Cotton Brocade, a Cotton Silk Brocade, or a Linen Brocade etc.

Technique – Any fabric is woven by the interplay of the warp and the weft, so any additional weft thrown by the weaver that only weaves the motifs and independent of the ground is a brocade weave. However, there are some weaves Jamawar or Tanchoi where the design or motifs are created using the primary weft itself.

There are essentially two kinds of brocade – the continuous Brocade is known as Fekuan and discontinuous Brocade Kadhuan. In the Fekuan brocade, the extra width runs end-to-end weaving motifs across the width of the fabric. If the motifs cover only a small are on the fabric, there are often floating extra weft on the back which are very carefully clipped off. This is also known as Cutwork or Katruan. In the Kadhaun brocade, the extra weft does not run across the fabric width hence no cuts at the back as there are no floating extra weft. On the contrary, the weaver weaves each motif individually, along with the cloth. This makes the motifs sharper, provides more creative scope to add number of colors in motifs, and makes the fabric more comfortable to the skin due to absence of cuts. Essentially Kadhuan Brocade is the epitome of handloom brocade weaving in India and is very time consuming.