The fibre is grown.
It is gathered and spun into yarn.
The yarn is woven into fabric.
The fabric is cut into shaped pieces.
The pieces are sewn into the garment.
The garment is washed.
It is dyed in tannin, or mungeet
It is dried and ironed.
Block print solution is made from rusty iron dissolved in fermenting raw sugar water, and the blocks are assembled from the new designs and hand carvings.
The block printing is done; each garment is an individual work of wearable art.
The blocked fabric airs overnight.
The garment is washed, dried and ironed.
TO BRING IT TO YOU:
It is packed carefully and sent to Aurora Silk.
Cheryl personally inspects and catalogues each piece.
Step 1: THE FIBRE IS GROWN
GOOD 4 U styles make use of all the finest natural fibres produced on the planet today. Each has its own history. Most are from our regular collection of exceptional fabrics. You can read additional details about each fibre under Eri Peace silk, Ahimsa Mulberry Peace silk, Light and Bright Tussah silk and others.
Silk that is cultivated is produced thru the following steps: eggs from last year are put out to hatch. Mulberry leaves (or in the case of Eri, Castor bean leaves) are fed to them several times a day. They grow from pin head sized hatchlings to 3 inch long, fat caterpillars in about four weeks. Besides being fed, they are protected from insects, mice and birds, as silkworms are delicious food. When ready to spin, they are provided with branches or small structures to anchor the cocoons. Spinning takes three days. Transforming into the moth takes about two weeks, then the moths emerge, mate, lay eggs and die happy, in the space of about a week. The cast off cocoons are gathered to make our beautiful silks.
Silk that is wild crafted, is gathered in the forests after the moths have emerged for the season. All the fabrics for GOOD 4 U clothes are from India, and at this time almost all the wild silk is actually semi-cultivated. Typically, a few wild cocoons are gathered before the moths emerge. The moths emerge, mate, lay eggs and die naturally, then these eggs are hatched and these caterpillars are fed by hand, protected from their natural predators, until they spin cocoons.
FARMER FRIENDLY COTTON
In much of rural India the small family farms are cultivated just as they have been for thousands of years. The season begins in July with the monsoon rains. The first sign of the new growing year is the mounds of buffalo dung evenly deposited every few yards over the small fields. As soon as the first rains soften the dry earth, fields are plowed with buffalo. A team of paired oxen, who have been raised together since they were calves, pull a hand carved wood plow, turning the newly dunged soil. Next, it seems the fields have sprouted flowers, for groups of brightly clad women, some in saris some in colourful dress-pant combinations, walk the fields throwing out handfuls of cotton seeds.
Within a month the cotton plants are a foot high. They are thinned, weeded and tended all by hand. These are very tiny farms, and there are many people to tend them, so all attention can be paid in case disease or insects attack. These micro-family farms do not yet use any types of artificial fertilizer nor pesticides, instead they rely on careful hand tending.
By November the cotton is ready to be picked. All picking is done by hand. The cotton crop is taken to a collection facility in the nearest small town. Some of these are co-ops and some are extended family operations where everyone is a close to distant relative or in-law. From here the cotton is sold to one or another of the larger mills that dot the region.
STEP 2: THE FIBRE IS SPUN INTO YARN
To spin silk into yarn, the cocoons, from which the moth has naturally emerged, are first softened by boiling in soapy water. This removes the stiff coating of sericin or silk gum that all silk fibres are spun with. Then the fibre is dried, pulled out, cut into manageable lengths (usually two to four inches), combed into a sliver. The sliver, a thick rope of parallel fibres, is then pulled out into a finer and finer diameter. When it is thin enough, it is twisted, and that makes yarn.
FARMER FRIENDLY COTTON is “ginned”, that is run through a machine with lots of small hooks. They pull the cotton off of the cotton seeds. Then the fibres are combed, made into sliver, pulled out and twisted into yarn.
STEP 3: THE FABRIC IS SPUN AND WOVEN
Much weaving in India is still done on foot powered looms. Our Eri Peace silk fabric is woven by hand on foot powered looms.
Village scale industry is also still strong in the area of India where we are working. A family will devote one or two rooms of the house complex to weaving looms. These are old clunkers, very noisy, that work off electricity. It is a great pride for a family to have such an operation, as it assures a steady income. Walking thru such a village the sound of clack-clack that proceeds from every third house or so is very comforting: here is a society and an economy that works. Most of the fabrics used in GOOD 4 U garments are woven in such villages.
STEP 4: THE FABRIC IS CUT TO OUR SHAPES
GOOD 4 U garments are a mixture of traditional styles and others invented by Cheryl, and worn by her for decades: “I’ve sewn all my own clothes since I was 12. I like to wear what I like to wear!”
It is easy for a professional tailor to cut garments in the styles he is used to; it is almost impossible to get him to cut styles that are new and different. Cheryl has worked patiently to get those styles that are original to be cut correctly, so they will sew into the GOOD 4 U garments that drape, shape and wear so lovingly.
STEP 5: THE GARMENTS ARE SEWN
Village sewn, by a professional tailor. That sounds so up-scale! when actually he was languishing without any work, except the occasional wedding outfit. The days when you bought fabric and took it to the local tailor down the street are fast fading, even in India. This poor tailor had a machine so old and broken, once Cheryl found him she had to advance him the money to buy a new machine. It wasn’t of course a new machine, but new to him, and infinitely more workable than the old one.
Almost all GOOD 4 U styles are sewn by this tailor in the remote village where the block printing is being done. Silk thread is used for sewing the silk garments, and cotton thread is used on the cotton garments. Seams are either bound or have extra wide margins.
Some GOOD 4 U garments are sewn in a small factory in the historical city of Ahmedabad. Cheryl has personally visited this facility and certifies it as clean, modern, airy and light, with happy workers, all adults. Cotton thread is used for the garments sewn here.
STEP 6: THE GARMENT IS WASHED
At this point the GOOD 4 U garments have been sent to the family that will do the block printing. The first step in Natural dyework is to prepare the fibre for the dye, and that means a good wash.
All washing is by hand, using mild and pure soap.
STEP 7: DYE IN TANNIN, or in MUNGEET
We only use 100% natural dyes. The tannin used in india is called “Harda”, and is the ground husk of the tropical almond, Terminalia. In English it is called Myrobalans. It is available locally as a finely ground almost powder. It is swished in water at ambient temperature for a few minutes to extract the tannin. The water is strained and the garment is immersed. After half an hour, it is opened out and turned. After another half hour it is ready to hang up to dry.
Mungeet is India Madder, and produces fine orange reds to coral, and pinks in the light shades. The dye process is more complex and lengthy than the simple tan of Harda. First the fabric is immersed in a weak solution of Tin salt. (Stannous chloride. Tin is a mineral that is needed by the body in trace amounts and is routinely prescribed in mineral supplements. It is not a heavy metal nor an environmental hazard; solutions are reused and never dumped.)
The dye is prepared by boiling ground Mungeet for half an hour. Mungeet is a root that is wildcrafted in the forests of north west India and is currently expanding in cultivation. It is available locally in fine ground almost powder form. (The same Mungeet we sell in our Natural Dye section). After boiling, the dyewater is strained and the garment is entered and moved about until it is the colour desired. Then it is given a rinse and air dried.
STEP 8: DRIED AND PRESSED
The garment must be dry to print on. We found it important to press before blocking, so that creases don’t form under the block, with resulting breaks in the design.
STEP 9: PRINTING SOLUTION
Block print solution is made from rusty iron dissolved in fermenting raw sugar water. This is thickened with flour made from ground seeds of tamarind fruit.
The blocks are assembled from the new designs and hand carvings. All the blocks are original designs © Cheryl Kolander 2007. They are hand carved by a master block carver who is able to carve the very fine lines of these unique designs.
STEP 10 BLOCK PRINTING
Every block is individually positioned, and struck a clean blow with the side of the hand. This drives the dye into the fabric. The large designs are built up block by block, according to the inspiration of the artist. Each garment is a unique and individual work of wearable art.
STEP 11 AIRING
Overnight airing is needed to oxidize the iron-tannin combination into a permanent colour.
STEP 12 WASH, DRY AND PRESS
Each piece is individually hand washed, air dried and hand ironed.
The final piece is a wonderful, wearable work of art!
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