saree water filteration
Sustainable easy water filtering using saree
How sarees help prevent diseases in Bangladesh!
For most Asians, Saree is just another dress but it is also a fashion statement for the celebrites. For women in Bangladesh, the 5-meter cloth may prove to be critical in fighting communicable diseases and saving invaluable lives. The cheaper cotton saree has enabled them to get rid of contagious diseases such as cholera, according to a team of US researchers. Women in Bangladesh who wear saris are literally wearing the answer to better health for themselves and their families, U.S. researchers said.
One of the researchers, Rita Colwell of the University of Maryland in College Park, said women who use a sari to filter household water protect their households from cholera — and even protect neighbors who don’t filter their water. The field trial was done in Matlab and total of 7,233 village women collecting water daily for their households in Bangladesh were selected from the same study population of the original field trial for interviewing. Analysis of the data showed that 31% of the women used a filter of which 60% used sari filters for household water. Results showed that sari filtration not only was accepted and sustained by the villagers and benefited them, including their neighbors not filtering water, in reducing the incidence of cholera, the latter being an unexpected benefit.
In 2003, Colwell and colleagues showed that teaching village women to filter water through folded cotton sari cloth reduced the incidence of cholera by 48 percent. The follow-up study conducted five years later showed 31 percent of the village women continued to filter water for their households, with both an expected and an unexpected benefit,” Colwell said in a statement.
More than 7,000 village women in Bangladesh were selected from the same population used in the previous study. Five years later, 31 percent continued to filter their water. Twenty-six percent of the control group, women not instructed to get any training in the first study, now filter their water.
In addition, households that did not filter their water with saris, but were located where water filtration was regularly practiced by others also had a lower incidence of cholera, Colwell says.
The findings are published in the inaugural issue of mBio, an online, open-access journal.
Sari: Creating High-end Fashion from Recycled Sarees
Sari, by Sital Haria and Sam Cook, was started in 2002 and is a unique fusion of charity and high-end fashion. The idea is to re-use discarded saree to produce chic clothing. The project has expanded and now offers other items such as jackets, lamp shades, and hand bags, all made from old sarees. 10% of Sari’s profits go towards helping underprivileged children.
A light quilted jacket made from recycled sarees – $285 roughly
Sari lamp shade – about $72
A funky hand bag – $400
While I think the concept of Sari is fabulous (using old sarees to create pieces of art and helping needy children) these items are obviously not meant to be bought by the average person. That handbag is pretty outrageous and could only be pulled off in a few circumstances. For $400, it’s quite a novelty. Regardless the idea behind the project is unique, resourceful, and creative.
You can learn more about Sari at the site www.saricouture.com
Kantha Stitching – A Bengali Tradition
Kantha stitching, which is essentially a simple straight stitch, is a tradition typically Bengali. This sewing method simply involves running the needle and thread in a straight line, in one side out the other along the length of the material.
Traditionally this type of stitching was used to make simple quilts, blankets, and throws from old sarees. When a saree would get too worn, torn, burn, etc., it would be paired together with a few other old sarees and they would be sewn together using the kantha stitch. Today, many Indian women still reuse their old sarees in this way. It is a simple, creative, and economic way to make something useful and beautiful from something that would otherwise be throw away.
A kantha blanket from SariBari
Kantha stitching is also used as a decorative embroidery in sarees and other Indian apparel. This use of kantha is purely artful and for aesthetic appeal. It can be quite intricate, and as the work is traditionally done by hand, can take quite a long time to do.
An example of kantha sarees
These days kantha handi-work also tends to be a curiosity for tourists and Westerners wishing to have a piece of Indian culture in their own homes. A number of development organizations in India are taking advantage of this demand and are making kantha products to sell abroad like blankets and handbags. SariBari (www.saribari.com) an NGO here in Kolkata where I previously volunteered, does just this. The blankets and bags they make sell like hotcakes abroad and for western prices, which means the women who are making the products get a decent salary to improve their standard of living.
Taking an old discarded saree and transforming it into a work of art is quite a novel concept. It goes to show that the saree can stand the test of time and can be beautiful in whatever way it is used.
Jean Paul Gaultier’s sareesque dresses
I know this is last year’s news, but never got a chance to showcase this.
People very often point to this collection as the acceptance of saree in an international fashion setting. Not sure if I fully agree with that. Very often designers take inspiration from different cultures, I don’t consider that as an “acceptance”.
But at the same time I don’t want to diminish the interesting looks Jean Paul Gaultier has created in this collection.
From Saree to Bikini
Considering that the saree blouses are turning in to bikini tops, why not use them for that purpose?
Sari paper dolls
Saree Paperdolls, not perfect but at least some effort has gone in to making the pleats right.
Saree inspired dress
This blog is “All about sarees”, so for the sake of completeness, I had to add this too.
Compare this to Saree Dress post that I did not too long ago.
About US
Sunny is a designer in Los Angeles. He loves the fluidity and fluency of a saree and believes that when a woman wears a saree, she not only adorns her body but she also adorns her soul. His design ethos is that “simplicity never goes out of style.”
Rupa Gupta: A writer, editor and journalist, Rupa has been in the media for more than two decades. She has worked as Editor with major publications, both in India and abroad. a keen eye for fashion and current trends. Her sense of aesthetics transcends the hype and always finds the true beauty.
Liza Varma is a former Femina Miss India and well known model in Delhi. Today, she is a leading Fashion Choreographer with over 1000 shows to her credit in India and abroad. She is also a member of the Fashion Design Council of India and a Consultant with Shoot Talent Management. Her client list is the who’s who of Indian fashion industry.
Misty is a student in London and has her fingers on the pulse of London fashion industry.
Abhi is a student in San Francisco and showcases sensuous saree pictures.
Kamini is a model in Los Angeles and loves to accentuate the best a saree has to offer.