techniques

Muslin

A very fine cotton, muslin (called mulmul in India) used to be a prized import from India during British rule. Made from handspun cotton, which is an artisan-focused industry in its own right, it ...

Block Printing

Originally dating back to before 220 AD, block printing is a method of carving a pattern onto a block, covering the block in ink, and repeatedly stamping fabric or paper to create a pattern. With o...

Stripe and Check Patterns

Our stripe and check patterns are all designed in-house at our headquarters in New Orleans, Louisiana, before being passed to our partners in India, the Kala Swaraj Foundation, who bring them to li...

Handloom

From plant to thread to garment, handlooming is the exact opposite of fast fashion. The centuries-old technique of creating fabric on a handloom is extremely labor intensive, resulting in pieces th...

Natural Dying

Lekha works with the Saheli Women to naturally dye handloomed silk in their workshop. This exciting new exploration into natural dyeing techniques began with madder, marigold, and iron, which are f...

Ikat

Coming from the Malay-Indonesian word for “tie,” the ikat technique tightly binds bundles of yarn to be resist-dyed, creating intricate patterns. Our partners work with an artisan community in Tela...