Beautiful handmade dohar blankets
Maya Kids
The Dohar Story...
How your dohar is made.
The dohars are handcrafted in a family-run textile workshop in Central Jaipur, Rajasthan, where they have been produced for several decades. Each dohar is handmade using the ancient art form of hand block printing.
The Process of Hand Block Printing.
Initially, reams of muslin fabric are washed to remove the starch. Once the fabric dries, it is then stretched over a long wooden work table. Then comes the wood block printing, an ancient practice done by hand. Each individual print is made with the help of two wooden stamps made of teak. The first creates an outline on the fabric, and the other fills that outline with a colour.
Once the outline blocks are dipped in the dye, they are carefully pressed onto the fabric, one at a time.
When those have dried, the next block is pressed into each outline to create the colour fill. This is all skilfully measured by eye and done by hand. When the whole piece of fabric has been printed, it is then left to dry in the sun, before an unprinted piece of cotton is overlaid on each side. Finally, all three layers are sewn together to make the dohar.
Community Support
By purchasing a dohar, you will be helping to ensure, this ancient art-form is kept alive. Each family passes down the tradition from generation to generation and the communities rely heavily on this income. In recent years, many of the handicraft traditions have fallen into decline and it is vital to ensure that they are preserved.
Dohars are traditional Indian blankets, made of layers of cotton, hand-printed with colourful patterns, and customarily swaddled around infants at birth. The Hindi word doharana translates to repeat, refering to the three layers of which a dohar consits of. They are a feature in the life of every Indian mother and child, combining comfort and versatility.
Why do a dohar?
Dohars are different to ordinary blankets in that they are made up of three layers of cotton. The printed pattern is only on the middle layer, which shows through the outer layers, enabling the blanket to remain soft and untouched, providing remarkable comfort against sensitive skins.
These dohars are made of 100% cotton. This natural fabric ensures that the blankets are versatile in different temperatures. The cotton keeps your baby cool on warm summer days, and protected on chilly nights due to the three layers that insulate. They are adorned using the ancient art of wood block printing, which uses child-safe dye to create unique patterns.
You can use the dohar as a blanket, swaddle, floor mat, burp cloth, a pram shade, or simply as a comforter. This versatile blanket can be neatly folded away making it perfect for travel.
And when you are done with it for the day, simply throw it in the washing machine: these blankets may be soft but they are also tough! The natural fibres take well to cleaning, and stains come out easily.
What is a dohar?
