By Zainab Ali
ISLAMABAD: The art of making cloth on Khaddi, a mirror of the ancient culture, is dying out, but people like Sohail Khan are trying to keep this art alive.
The hands and feet moving fast on the khaddi and the threads molded into cloth are the memories of our ancient culture; the unique art is still alive today. Spinning the yarn on the spinning wheel, then tying the coloured threads on the khaddi in a particular order to weave the cloth requires a special skill.
Khaddi, an art of elders
Sohail Khan, who works on a Khaddi at Lok Virsa, said that he purchased the threads from Swat. He said that although people also buy men’s clothes, the demand for women’s clothes is also high because women generally buy more.
‘’Men don’t wear so many suits; women wear more,’’ he added.
Men buy one or two suits throughout the season. Hence the demand for women’s suits is high. Talking about his skill of ‘khaddi’’, he said that they learned this skill from their elders. Slight carelessness can ruin all the hard work, he added.
A visitor Maida Khan said: “This ancient skill should not be lost in the dust of time, so we all have to save it together.”
