Shot Colors- A Weaver's Magic Trick

Shot color weaving is a technique unique to the craft of silk weaving that creates fabrics with a captivating color shift. This effect is achieved by weaving a warp and weft of different colors, which appear almost monochrome when viewed flat but reveal their true colors as the fabric moves and shifts. This iridescent quality, especially in silk, is what makes shot color textiles so mesmerizing.

Creating Stunning Color Transitions

A close-up image of a brocade fabric featuring a lovely shot color effect of Blue and Pink. Depending on the troughs and crests, you will see beautiful color variations.

The beauty of shot color weaving lies in its ability to create stunning color transitions. For instance, a yellow warp and pink weft might appear golden at first but shift between yellow and pink depending on how the fabric is viewed. By pairing contrasting or complementary colors, we achieve an iridescent effect where the fabric seems to change colors as it moves.

The Power of Saturated Color Pairings
Bold combinations such as fuchsia pink with yellow, royal blue with neon green, or vibrant red and purple, intensify the shot color effect. These saturated pairings create a more pronounced color shift, adding depth and vibrancy to the fabric.

On the other hand, pairing warp colors like black, white, or beige with a saturated hue weft helps adjust the intensity, darkening, lightening, or muting of the colors. We often pair a coloured weft to a black warp to achieve a darker color tone. For instance using a red weft with black warp to create a maroon. Similarly, by using a white warp with coloured weft helps achieve a more pastel color tone.

Why Silk is Perfect for Shot Color Weaving
While the shot colors can be applied to various yarns, silk is particularly well-suited for this technique. Its natural sheen allows the colors to blend more seamlessly, enhancing the iridescence. Silk also brings a fluidity that makes these color shifts more noticeable, turning each fabric into a dynamic masterpiece.

Shot Color in Banarasi Sarees
The iridescent shot color effect comes to life only when the fabric has some folds and turns so that you can view different faces of the fabric even when looking from one angle. A saree or dupatta has inherent folds and drapes which enables the shot color effect to shine through. Hence the technique's popularity among saree connoisseurs.

In attempting to create a shot color textile, it is important to choose color pairs that blend well to be able to create an attractive color effect. At HolyWeaves, we regularly weave random samples of shot colors and then put the most attractive ones to production. To give you a perspective, we can obtain as many as forty-five different shot color samples from yarns of just ten colors. The color effect is subtle when the two colors used to create the shot are from the same color family or are close to each other, for eg, yellow and orange. However, often we go for a bold look by using two strong but distant colors like royal blue and pink to create the shot.

We often make sarees using a yellow warp and another colour weft to achieve a sunshine effect. If you slightly fold the fabric to make a wave, you will see an underlying yellow shade, which otherwise was not so evident. Yellow has this unique quality of pairing well with most colors and so often is a popular choice for the warp in shot color fabrics. 

It is important to note that the iridescent effect can only be achieved on a yarn-dyed woven textile, and is most effective in silk. The unique color effect cannot be achieved on printed textiles, or on any textile which is overdyed or piece dyed. For example, while a banarasi Khaddi Georgette saree can be dyed into beautiful ombre colors, the shaded effect so obtained is not the same as shot color effect.

A shot color is also not to be confused with a multi-colour weave. The iridescence can only be achieved by using different colors in the warp and the weft, ie yarns that run perpendicular to each other. If we use two colors in just the warp, or only the weft, we achieve a multi-colour fabric, but not get the unique charm of shot colors.

Shot color weaving is a true celebration of color, texture, and movement, creating silk sarees that are as dynamic as they are beautiful. At HolyWeaves, we continue to explore the endless possibilities of this technique, offering shot color sarees, dupattas, and fabrics that stand out for their vibrant, ever-changing beauty.

Does your wardrobe have one of these unique textile creations? We strongly recommend you give it a shot.

Prayag- HolyWeaves collection of shot color sarees, dupattas and fabrics.

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