Two Banarasis can look almost identical from the front and be worlds apart on the loom. The difference is how the motifs are woven — kadwa or cutwork. Here's how to tell, and why it matters.
Turn a Banarasi over and look at the back. More than the price tag, more than the shine, the reverse of the cloth tells you how it was made — and how long it will last. Almost every patterned Banarasi saree is woven by one of two methods: kadwa (also spelt kadhua) or cutwork. They aren't really grades of quality so much as two different philosophies of weaving — and once you can spot the difference, you'll never look at a Banarasi quite the same way.
First, how a Banarasi gets its pattern
A plain cloth is just warp and weft crossing each other. The flowers, vines and butis on a Banarasi come from an extra weft — usually silk or zari — woven in on top of that base, only where the motif needs to appear. Traditionally the design was set up on a naksha draw-loom, where a master naksha-band first translated the pattern into a grid of knotted strings that "programmed" the loom; today that job is largely done by jacquard cards. Either way the work is slow — a single saree takes at least six days, and far longer for dense designs. The whole kadwa-versus-cutwork question comes down to one thing: what happens to that extra weft in the spaces between the motifs?
What is kadwa (kadhua) weaving?
In kadwa weaving, every motif is woven as its own little island. The weaver interlocks the extra weft only within the boundary of each buti or flower, then begins the next one separately. Because the thread never travels across the gaps, there are no loose floats running behind the cloth — and so nothing has to be cut away afterwards. Each motif is locked firmly into the weave. Weavers call this method kadhwa, and you'll meet it in classic forms such as kadhwa jangla.
That makes kadwa the slowest and most skilled way to weave a Banarasi: the weaver is effectively building the pattern by hand, one motif at a time. In return you get a saree whose design is exceptionally durable, sits cleanly on a tidy reverse, and won't fray or pull loose at the motifs. It's the technique kept for the finest pieces — the reason a kadwa katan silk costs more than a cutwork saree of the very same design.
What is cutwork?
Cutwork takes the faster road. Here the extra weft is carried right across the width of the saree — a method weavers call fenkuwa, or phekwa — from selvedge to selvedge, floating over the base wherever it isn't forming a motif. Once the cloth comes off the loom, a worker turns it over and snips away all those floating threads by hand, leaving only the motifs behind. The result is a lighter saree with a softer, semi-transparent ground — in fact cutwork is best understood as a lighter, more affordable cousin of the painstaking jamdani. It is quicker to weave and gentler on the budget, which is why so much everyday and lightly-patterned work — including many shikargah and tissue designs — is done in cutwork.
The trade-off is simple: because the motifs are held in place by cut threads rather than continuously woven, a cutwork saree asks for a little more care — those tiny cut ends can loosen over years of hard wear. Worn and stored kindly, it lasts beautifully.
How to tell which one you're holding
The quickest test is to look at the back of the saree:
- Kadwa: the reverse is tidy, the motifs look almost as finished as the front, and there are no little cut thread-ends between them. Tug gently and nothing gives.
- Cutwork: turn it over and you'll see fine clipped thread-ends around and between the motifs, where the floats were snipped away. The ground feels lighter and more sheer.
Neither is "better" — a kadwa bridal katan and a featherweight cutwork tissue are simply made for different lives. What matters is knowing which one you're paying for.
Both, at Khinkhwab
We weave both, because both earn their place. When you want a piece to last generations — a wedding saree, an heirloom — kadwa is worth every extra day on the loom. When you want something light to wear and love often, a fine cutwork saree is a joy. Either way it begins on a handloom in Varanasi: you can see the range across our handwoven Banarasi and katan silk collections.
Frequently asked questions
What is kadwa weaving?
Kadwa (or kadhua) is a Banarasi weaving technique in which each motif is woven separately and interlocked into the cloth, with no extra-weft threads floating across the back. Because nothing is cut afterwards, the design is woven solidly into the fabric, making kadwa the most durable — and most labour-intensive — way to weave a patterned Banarasi.
What is the difference between kadwa and cutwork?
In kadwa, each motif is woven individually with no floating threads, so the back is clean and the motifs are locked in. In cutwork, the extra weft is carried right across the saree and the floating threads between motifs are cut away by hand after weaving. Kadwa is sturdier and slower to make; cutwork is lighter, quicker and more affordable.
Is kadwa more expensive than cutwork?
Usually, yes. Kadwa requires the weaver to build every motif by hand, one at a time, which takes far more time and skill than cutwork — so a kadwa saree generally costs more than a cutwork saree of a comparable design.
How can I tell if my Banarasi is kadwa or cutwork?
Look at the reverse. A kadwa saree has a neat back with no loose ends between the motifs. A cutwork saree shows tiny clipped thread-ends where the floating weft was snipped away, and tends to have a lighter, more transparent ground.
What is jamdani, and how is it different from cutwork?
Jamdani is a highly intricate technique in which the motifs are woven into the cloth by hand without long floats — closer in spirit to kadwa. Cutwork is often described as a lighter, more affordable cousin of jamdani: it achieves a similar airy look more quickly, by floating the weft across the saree and cutting it away afterwards.
Sources & further reading
The weaving process and the description of cutwork draw on Dream of Weaving: Study & Documentation of Banaras Sarees and Brocades (Textiles Committee, Government of India, 2007), which documents the naksha draw-loom, the role of the naksha-band, and the cutwork method in detail. The traditional names kadhwa and fenkuwa for the two methods are recorded in Tarannum Fatma Lari's Textiles of Banaras: Yesterday and Today.
Further reading on Banaras and Indian textiles: Tarannum Fatma Lari, Textiles of Banaras: Yesterday and Today (Indica Books, 2010); Rai Anand Krishna & Vijay Krishna, Banaras Brocades (Crafts Museum, 1966); Jaya Jaitly, Woven Textiles of Varanasi (2014).
