Why It Is Worth Buying a Handmade Shawl

Every buyer who wants to purchase a down shawl has to decide: buy a handmade or a machine-made shawl? The first costs more, the second less. Let us try to answer this question as a direct maker of Orenburg shawls.

What makes handmade items more expensive?

The price of any product consists of the cost of material and labour. While the material is the same in both cases, the technology of making the shawl differs considerably.

In industrial conditions, most of the work is done by machines. The finished item is made much faster. This naturally affects the price. Machine-made shawls are flawless but monotonous, since they are all knitted to a set program. Factory shawls often turn out stiff, which the factory puts down to production costs.

If you buy a handmade shawl, you will immediately notice the differences. Handmade items are softer and more voluminous and have a unique pattern. Knitting an openwork shawl by hand takes at least a week. All this makes handmade items more valuable, and therefore more expensive.

The cleaner the down, the softer the shawl!

Down for knitted items is obtained by combing adult animals. What the goats "give" is unsuitable for work in its original form. The down contains many impurities: dirt, blades of grass, burrs, coarse hairs. All of this must be removed. The fine hairs will not be damaged if the dirt is picked out by hand.

After cleaning by hand, the down must be washed. During washing, the fibres are cleaned of invisible dirt, sweat and other natural secretions of the animals. The best washing product is a mild shampoo.

The down will be well cleaned when it is washed in small batches and rinsed at least twice in clean warm water. After the "water treatments", the fibres are carefully spread on a soft cloth to dry.

The dry down fibres are turned into knitting thread using a spindle and a fine silk thread of a suitable colour. Thanks to this painstaking work, the thread turns out very fine and soft.

How the craftswomen work

So that you can buy a handmade shawl, a craftswoman works for two to three weeks (not counting the time spent preparing the yarn). The larger the shawl and the more intricate its pattern, the longer the knitting process takes.

When a warm shawl for everyday wear is needed, the middle of the shawl is knitted solid. As a rule, all rows of the square are worked in knit stitches. The most remarkable thing about such shawls is the border. It gives the shawl individuality and makes it beautiful. In this case most of the time goes into knitting the openwork pattern and the scallops around the perimeter of the shawl. If the shawl is knitted with a pattern in the central part as well, the knitters spend much more time on the work.

Traditionally, openwork patterns long familiar to Orenburg craftswomen are used: "little snakes", "cat's paws", "little rays", "millet", "large raspberry" and so on. The skills of knitting fanciful patterns are passed down from the older generation to the younger. The shawl is knitted in parts: first the central square, then the border on each of its sides.

All handmade shawls are distinguished by their softness and exclusive pattern. Each knitter tries to make her item unlike anything made before. To this end, needlewomen invent new designs, try different combinations and exchange experience. This makes Orenburg shawls even more interesting and even more desirable.

The best gift is a handmade down shawl

Orenburg down items are valued all over the world. They hold places of honour in the most famous museums. Visitors admire masterpieces made of "soft gold".

It is customary to give down shawls as gifts. Give warm gifts to mothers and grandmothers, wives and sisters! Women will truly appreciate this heartfelt gift and will be boundlessly grateful to the givers.