For people around the world, India is synonymous to a tradition of exotic arts and handicrafts. The wide array of traditional crafts reflects the artistic and cultural richness of India. The varied designs and diversity represent the excellent artistic skills of Indian craftsmen. The history of Indian craft goes back almost 5000 years into the past. The first reference to Indian handicrafts can be found in artifacts extracted from the ruins of the Indus Valley civilization.The vast cultural and ethnic diversity of India has allowed a variety of motifs, techniques and crafts to flourish. Each region has, over time, developed its own style, technique and patterns. Indian craft, handed down for centuries from one generation to another, has also been influenced by traditions from around the world. Sakhi strives to keep traditional Indian craftsmanship alive by presenting it in a modern avatar in its collection of best Indian designer sarees online.
Sakhi Crafts
Kalamkari: Literally meaning drawing with a pen, sarees featuring the kalamkari craft have been adorned by women over the ages. There are two distinct styles of kalamkari - Srikalahasti and Machalipatnam. The fabric gets its glossiness from its immersion in milk and resin. Kalamkari fabrics are created in seventeen steps, using only natural dyes, with numerous washes. Typically, the motifs capture the essence of temple architecture and scenes from great epics. The muted kalamkari motifs in maheshwari silk or cotton are appliqued onto rich vibrant kanchivaram silk. One can also find this work of art handcrafted on tussar silk, crepe, chiffon, georgette and cotton. Kalahasti and Masulipatnam located in the state of Andhra Pradesh in south India are well known for various forms of kalamkari. Sakhi borrows from this craft and brings alive the soul of kalamkari with fashionable designs.
Cut-Work: Whether it is for an evening out or to make one feel beautiful during the day, cut work is a form of fine needlework that complements any hour. In this form of embroidery, portions of the background fabric are cut away and the edges worked over in buttonhole stitches. The applications of this craft include bold elaborate pallus with understated borders hand embroidered with cut work, or unique combinations with complementing block prints.Kerala in south India along with the Banaras and Bengal regions in north India are well known for cut work. Sakhi celebrates cut work on sarees and salwars, adding verve by infusing cut work with tissue applique, to make every occasion special.
Shadow Work: A very subtle and interesting form of embroidery, shadow work uses sheer fabric in a manner wherein only the bare outline of a pattern appears on the surface, revealing the crisscrossed threads underneath, creating a shadow pattern. It is the opacity of the threads, worked on translucent sheer fabric, which defines this form of embroidery.The herringbone stitch reverses the shadow stitch by inverting the right side, revealing the actual thread in place of the shadow. Shadow work appears both delicate and intricate. Sakhi uses this effect in a variety of ways, making its garments versatile and stylish.
Hand-block Printing: One of the earliest and simplest methods of textile printing, Block printing is, very simply put, the printing of patterns on textile using incised wooden blocks. Block printing involves myriad steps, but the most important step is the preparation of the block which determines the quality and clarity of impressions.The block is then dipped in the desired dye and carefully placed adjacent to the preceding impression of the block as per the design. Block print is popular across many Indian states, each region being known for its own, unique variant. Sakhi gives a contemporary twist to block print by combining modern graphic designs with traditional Indian motifs. The key differentiating elements of the designer ensemble are the hues used in varied colour themes.
Sequins/Mirror Work: This craft features minute sequins placed carefully on fabric and stitched by hand. Sequins are glass-like, fragile, decorative elements available in numerous shades featuring either reflective or matte effects.Sakhi weaves this craft in an unconventional fashion on a range of fabrics. Sequins and mirror work, in combination with hand-block print or cut work among other crafts, gives rise to interesting, unique creations.
Badla: The use of metal to embellish textiles has been immensely popular since the Mughal era. Badla is one such ancient technique, where a flattened metal strip (badla) is either laid on the surface of the fabric or by employing a technique called mukesh, and embroidered through the fabric using its pointed end in place of a needle.This intricate craft recreates a starry night sky when used in combination with black flowing chiffon or flamboyant organza silk.
Applique Work: An innovative technique by which patches of contrasting fabrics are superimposed on a base fabric, applique work requires the edges of the patches to be sewn using various embroidery stitches.The base cloth is usually coloured, combined with printed or contrasting applique material. The choice of thread used can also serve to elevate the colour theme.
This craft can also be combined with mirror work, badla or mukesh to add an element of sparkle.
Ari Work: The word ari comes from the hooked needle used in a form of embroidery called aar. It is similar to the one used in crochet. The fabric is first fixed over a frame, usually made from bamboo, on which a pattern is traced and intricately embroidered using a needle with a hooked end using either zari (gold or silver) or silk thread.Ari appears to be a fine chain stitch. The secret of exquisite ari workmanship is the uniform tension of the thread, maintained throughout. After embroidery, the stitches are beaten using a wooden mallet on to a handheld wooden anvil placed under the fabric.
Sakhi Story
Indian fashion is making waves globally. Well known Indian designers like Ritu Kumar, Manish Malhotra, Manish Arora, Satya Paul, Neeta Lulla and others have a large following worldwide. New brands like "Sakhi by Chandras" are fast emerging as designer brands that add to the glamour of Indian designer sarees. Sakhi focuses on designer sarees that are wearable. They are exotic but at the same time elegant. They are unique but at the same time casual.
Sakhi is a fast growing fashion outlet founded by the mother-daughter duo of Chandra Rajendran and Neeta. Chandra is a designer with a keen eye for color and passion for design and her daughter Neeta brings a younger dimension to the designs and the brand. Sakhi specializes what they call the "wearable design" - Indian designer sarees and other products that you can wear for multiple occasions with ease and always win a complement.
Chandra's designer boutique has been active for more than 15 years, initially serving a close circle of friends. The popularity of her designs caught up and whenever people wore her designs, heads turned and complements flowed. And when Neeta, with an engineering degree and NIFT diploma in fashion under her belt joined her mother, the mother-daughter combine launched "Sakhi by Chandras" as a new brand in 2005 in Bangalore. From then on, Sakhi has grown into a well-respected brand for Indian woman's clothes today. Sakhi launched its online shopping site making it one of the best experience for Indian sarees online shopping. Sakhi launched their Hyderabad outlet in Oct'09.
With a clientele spreading across the world, Sakhi is constantly reinventing itself while not losing its core focus of creating wearable designs for the Indian woman.
Why Sakhi?
Sakhi By Chandras, the fast growing fashion outlet founded by the mother-daughter duo of Chandra Rajendran and Neeta offers a range of exclusive range of Indian designer sarees, salwars and kurtis.
Sakhi offers an extensive collection of Indian sarees online
Sakhi ensures prompt delivery world wide, taking extra care to ensure the product reaches you in mint condition within the date specified making Sakhi one of the most reliable places to buy sarees online.
At Sakhi you can also find exclusive Salwars that can be customized to suits your measurements or just the fabric. That means you can by either custom stitched or unstitched material at Sakhi.
In addition to an exclusive collection of designer sarees from India, Sakhi also offers custom creation of classic styles designer Saree blouses that goes well with many of the sarees.
Sakhi ensures the collection stays fresh and one can look forward to regular updates on our fashion pages. The color themes are very current and high fashion.
Sakhi guarantees that the product you receive is identical to the one seen by you on our site Sakhifashions.com
Sakhi's offerings combine the best of material and crafts in a stylish design making them a genuine collector's item.
Sakhi has stores in Bangalore and Hyderabad and an excellent online store in www.sakhifashions.com, giving customers flexible options to buy their products.
Sakhi Products
Sakhi always holds an interesting collection - vibrant combinations of colors, craft and fabric. In most countries around the world, women have switched out of their traditional dresses to western style very fast. Unlike their counter parts, Indian women continue to proudly wear clothes that are modern but have a strong connect to Indian culture - weather Sarees, Salwars, Kurtis or whatever. Sakhi helps the modern Indian woman with a great combination of colors, crafts, materials and design patterns making Sakhi the best source of Indian designer sarees online.
Sakhi's Sarees
Sakhi has an excellent collection of Indian silk sarees including the queen of silks kancheepuram silk sarees (aka Kanchi silk sarees or Kanchi Pattu Sarees). When high quality material like Chiffon, Crepe, Tussar, Organza, georgette, Kancheewaram, Cotton, etc, intricate crafts like Cutwork, Kalamkari, Shadow-work, Hand embroidery, Block-prints, Sequins, Badla, Applique, Ari-work, Kundan etc. in glorious colors like fuscia-pink, golden-yellow, aqua-blue, burnt-rust, deep-green, peach, lavendar, sober-ash, turquoise blue, etc, combined seamlessly in Sakhi's wearable designs adds to the glamour of Indian fashion sarees.
Sakhi's Designer Saree Blouses
Sakhi brings out stunning designer saree blouses featuring pure Kanchi silk in rich colors like bottle green, rich reds, classic mustard, black and other colors. With exotic designs using crafts like kundan, cut work, kalamkari, hand embroidery etc, sakhi's designer saree blouses make a great match to the designer sarees from Sakhi. Sakhi provides custom stitching making it a one stop store for the clients.
Sakhi's Salwars
Sakhi carries an exotic collection of silk and hand spun cotton salwars. Excellent material like Kanchi silk, Crepe, Chiffon, Tusser silk are used for Salwars and Dhuppattas. They also include craft work like cutwork, block print, kundan, appliqué work etc. You can purchase as a fabrics or use custom stitching.
Today's Trends
)
Kalamkari hand craft literally meaning drawing with a pen, sarees featuring the kalamkari craft have been adorned by women over the ages. There are two distinct styles of kalamkari - Srikalahasti and Machalipatnam. The fabric gets its glossiness from its immersion in milk and resin. Kalamkari fabrics are created in seventeen steps, using only natural dyes, with numerous washes. Typically, the motifs capture the essence of temple architecture and scenes from great epics. The muted kalamkari motifs in maheshwari silk or cotton are appliqued onto rich vibrant kanchivaram silks. One can also find this work of art handcrafted on tussar silk, crepe, chiffon, georgette and cotton. Kalahasti and Masulipatnam located in the state of Andhra Pradesh in south India are well known for various forms of kalamkari. Sakhi borrows from this craft and brings alive the soul of kalamkari with fashionable designs
Kanchivaram is one of the superior silk fabrics in the world, kanchivaram is woven by skilled weavers from the famed temple town of Kanchipuram. The designs on this luxurious silk reflect finely crafted motifs inspired by the temples of Tamil Nadu. With silk thread dipped in liquid gold and silver, these glorious motifs are brought to life by the gifted hands of artisans. Sakhi pays tribute to the age-old tradition of adorning kanchivaram silk, with a contemporary twist that suits the modern woman.
