Red-tipped leaf sprigs run over sky blue, closed in by jagged triangular borders.
- Sharp geometric border, printed rather than woven or stitched on
- Asymmetric layout: the sprigs do not fall in tidy rows
- Colour-fast, so a strong red sits safely on a pale ground
The print
Small leaf sprigs in red and brown are scattered without a strict grid, and the yellow accents pick up between them. Along the horizontal edges the block changes to repeating triangular points, which is what gives the piece its hard edge.
Red on sky blue is the most confident colour pairing in this batch. The border keeps it from reading casual.
Wearing it
Cut it as a straight kurta and place the triangular border at the hem, where it acts as a printed edging. Silver jewellery, and either a red or a plain blue bottom depending on how much of the contrast you want.
A printed border like this normally arrives as a machine-woven lace trim stitched on afterwards. Here it is struck into the cloth itself with a carved block.
The set
Top: 2.5 m, 44 to 45 inches wide
Bottom: 2.5 m, 44 to 45 inches wide
Dupatta: 2.5 m, 35 to 36 inches wide
Fabric: Katan silk, opaque, no lining needed
Craft: hand block printed with hand-carved wooden blocks in Bhagalpur
Weight: 600 to 650 g for top, bottom and dupatta together
Stitching: stitched to your fit up to 4XL, length customisable
Care: dry clean the first time, then a gentle cold hand wash
Dispatch: Dispatched the next working day.
Small shifts in the print, a motif set a little off its neighbour, a shade that deepens where the block pressed twice: these are the marks of a hand at work, not flaws in the cloth.