Dhaka Muslin is the historical fabric best known for its incredible fineness that allows it to pass through a finger ring. There were 16 steps of making dhaka muslin. It’s made of one of the rarest cottons called phuti karpus. Historical data show that individual fibers are under 10 microns, which is finer than other luxury fibers like vicuna, shatosh, and baby cashmere.
It is not ordinary muslin that you may use in the kitchen. Dhaka Muslin is one of the most luxurious fabrics that takes 6 to 8 months, 20 artisans, and 16 crucial steps. It is a unique textile; a form of art, the definition of simplistic beauty.
Dhaka muslin was an empirical textile that Mughals loved; it traveled from the riverside of Dhaka to the famous courts of the world. It was a costume worn by the prestigious and elite of the time. In today’s world, it’s comparable to a heritage luxury fashion house like Hermes and LVMH.
Dhaka muslin was not invented in one day; it evolved and developed over four thousand years! With Mughal patronage, Dhakai muslin reached its peak with royalty, perfection & beauty. But due to colonial laws and market manipulation, the muslin was wiped out from the market.
In 2014, the Bangladesh Government took the initiative to revive Dhaka Muslin. After a lot of obstacles, with the help of historical texts, science, and practical knowledge of spinners and master weavers, Dhaka muslin was revived after over seven years of effort. The muslin we have today follows the same steps from the Mughal era!
We, Team Muslin Dhaka, are the first brand that can make historical muslin along with the muslin revival team. We also weave the cervelt scarf & shawl, an answer to the shahtoosh alternative.
Today, for the first time in history, we will share the sixteen steps of making magical Dhaka Muslin. We also describe where Dhakai Muslin fits with other heritage luxury fibers.
Dhaka Muslin vs. other luxury fabrics
While luxury fashion houses rely heavily on rare animal fiber, Dhaka Muslin is made from plant fiber. It is the rarest plant-based super luxury.
Historically, muslin fabrics were a traditional central piece of our culture. But it required an extreme investment of resources to reach the highest quality. When the Mughal court patronized Dhaka Muslin, weavers started making an extraordinary quality of fabric & fashion.
After being introduced to the world through trade routes, it was highly prized in imperial courts. In the seventeenth century, Dhaka muslin became a royal fabric desired by the elites of the world.
Dhakai muslin is made with a rare cotton plant named Phuti Karpas. It grows only near the riversides of Dhaka. The specialty of Phuti Karpas is the creation of ultra-fine yarn. Under the microscope, individual phuti karpas fiber’s fineness diameter is under 10 microns. The plant-based fiber is finer than any other legally obtainable luxury fiber.
Shahtoosh is another ultra-fiber animal fiber that averages 11.45 um & individual 9 um. But Shahtoosh is banned globally because it requires slaughtering the endangered Tibetan antelope called chiru. On the other hand, Dhaka muslin is completely ethical and received geographical indication (GI) recognition.
Some brands have extremely rare fiber products. Loro Piana’s signature clothes are made with the undercoat of Vicunia. Vicuna fibers measure 12 um. Cervelt is another extremely low-yield fiber from New Zealand red deer coats. It is the diamond of luxury fibers for a creamy royal experience. Please read Most Rarest Cervelt Fiber.
Dacca Muslin exclusivity through an intensive slow fashion cycle, which takes about 3-6 months to complete just one saree. However, we can only compare muslin with other luxury fabrics in terms of craftsmanship, fineness, and rarity.
But animal fibers like vicuna provide a soft, warm experience. While muslin’s fineness contributes to its signature woven air feel. One is great for winter, the other is a summer attire.
Comparison Table
| Fiber | Diameater | Price Range | Why is it so expensive? | Key Feature |
| Dhaka Muslin (Phuti Karpas) | Under 10µm | Scarfs $4000-$5000
Shawl $6000- $7000 Saree $10,000 |
Low-yield unique cotton, 2000 hours of high skill craft, completely handmade. | Breathable, weightless, and finest textile. |
| Shahtoosh | 11.45 µm | Illegal | Extraordinary Fineness, Endangered antelope killed for wool. Not obtainable. | High insulation with softness and feather-light. |
| Vicuña | 12 µm | Scarf $2,000 – 3500
Shawl $4000- 8500 |
Materials are obtained from wild camelids once every 2 to 3 years. Extremely rare. | Soft, warm, and lightweight. |
| Cervelt | 13 µm | Scarf $2,000 – 3000
Shawl $5000- 7500 Socks – $1500 |
Cervelt is an incredibly fine animal fiber that comes from red deer from New Zealand. Very low yield, one deer provides 20 grams per year. | Warm, buttery feel with lightness. |
| Baby cashmere | 14 µm | Scarf $ 1500 – 1750
Shawl $2500 – 3500 |
One time, combining young Himalayan goats. Rarity of material and buttery feel. | Ultra soft, warm, and smooth feel. |
| Cashmere Grade A | 15-15.5 µm | Scarf $600 – 1200
Shawl $1200 – 2500 |
Labour-intensive hand combing, and a smooth experience. | Soft, warm, and smooth touch experience. |
What are the steps of making Dhaka muslin? History & present Update
Making magical dhakai muslin takes 16 steps of extreme artisanal work. No one on planet Earth can make this extremely fine fabric. Let’s see each step for the first time,
The 16 steps of Dhaka Muslin production at a glance –
- Step 1: The Harvest – Exact humidity picking.
- Step 2: Manual Cleaning – Hand seed-removal.
- Step 3: Ginning – Alignment of fiber.
- Step 4: Spinning – Dawn 500 to 750 count drawing.
- Step 5: Markoron – Rice starch sizing.
- Step 6: Nataikoron – Kite-spool yarn drying.
- Step 7: Tepa – Warp yarn preparation.
- Step 8: Boblin – Precision bobbin calibration.
- Step 9: Tana Hata – Horizontal warp stretching.
- Step 10: Sana Loy – Reed geometric mapping.
- Step 11: Tana Pechano – Loom warp anchoring.
- Step 12: Boy Loy – Cotton heddle threading.
- Step 13: Buna – Sacred pit-loom weaving.
- Step 14: Kashal – Starch-removing river wash.
- Step 15: Rafugiri – Microscopic invisible mending.
- Step 16: Kundi – Mallet-polishing.
( Note – There are the main steps. There are many subtle steps that can not share due complicate the story. Harder to understand. For example, one weaving has many subtle steps. Please see the conclusion part. )
Phase I – Spinning: Collecting cotton to the ghost thread
What is Phuti Karpas cotton? The Raw material for Dhakai Muslin
Gossypium Arboreum Var. Neglecta or Phuti Karpas cotton is a special variety of cotton that comes with extraordinarily fine and medium-long individual fibers. This character allows the creation of ultra-fine yarn, which is also durable enough to weave and wear.
Phuti Karapas is the vital raw material for authentic Dhaka Muslin. This cotton only grows on the river banks around Dhaka. This makes it one of the rarest and finest types of cotton in the world.
How is Phuti Karpas Cotton Collected? (Step 1)
Collecting phuti karpus cotton is the first step of the entire process. The artisans need to collect the cotton at a specific time of the day to ensure proper humidity. Too dry or too wet is not ideal for the yarn-spinning process.
How are seeds removed from Phuti Karpas? The manual art (Step 2)
Manual seed removal from the cotton is the second stage of the process. Artisans separate each seed manually. Each seed is separated with careful hands. It’s a painstaking process, and using machines can shred the ultra-fine fiber. Keeping the natural structure of the plant fiber is a vital part of this step.
What is ginning in Dhaka Muslin? The Boal fish jawbone explained (Step 3)
After the seed and impurities are removed, the fresh cotton goes through the ginning step. For spinning yarn, all the cotton fibers need to align in one direction through ginning.
Historically, the boal fish’s brush-like jaw was used in the delicate process. The organic boal catfish teeth work perfectly for the job. The teeth are not so hard that they tear the fibers while aligning fibers in one direction.
Often, artisans do the ginning process by hand, although it takes longer. The artisans keep pulling a handful of cotton, gently dividing it. After the artisan puts the cotton together, they repeat the process. The gentle pulling motion aligns the yarn for the weaving.
What is a 500-count Yarn? How the world’s finest Yarn is hand-spun (Step 4)
500-count muslin thread is the world’s finest hand-spun yarn. It is 1.5 to 2 times thinner than human hair. This emphasizes the extraordinary fineness of the muslin yarn.
The fourth step is spinning the yarn with a spindle called Taki or a small manual Charka. Spinning the yarn is a complex process where a lot of factors need to be right. First, the artisans must be highly trained. Even the skilled spinner needs 6 months of training to learn the right techniques to spin yarn this fine. The right tension, movement of the hand, perfect eyesight, everything is vital to create such fine yarn.
Even a skilled spinner can not spin muslin yarn anytime they want. The spinning process requires very specific humid conditions of dawn.
In history, spinners used to go spinning in the middle of the river in a small boat to get the right humidity. Last but not least, the spinner hands need to be very soft.
Usually, young women are more suited for the work. Spinners can not do any heavy work, as that can create callus, making their hands rougher. After a certain age, they can not see the yarn.
Phase II – Pre-weaving: the invisible architecture of perfection
What is Markoron? The rice starch sizing (Step 5)
Markoron is the traditional process where the yarn is coated with natural starch. For muslin markoron, artisans use a secret rice formula to coat the yarns. When dried, the starch binds with the fibers of the yarn, making them strong and compact.
Muslin yarns are naturally very delicate and fragile, so markoron is a crucial step to weave with them. After the markoron, the fibers look a bit thicker due to the starch layer. The scratch layer is washed after the muslin weaving is complete.
What is Nataikoron? The spooling process that prepares muslin yarn for the loom (Step 6)
Nataikoron is the winding process where artisans transfer the stretched wet muslin in a large kite reel, locally called natai. Freshly stretched yarns are quite fragile and tear easily. Artisans use an efficient movement of the hand to transfer the yarns in the natai for drying. The natai allows the yarn to dry evenly.
What is Tepa in Dhaka Muslin weaving? Winding yarn for the shuttle (Step 7)
The seventh step is moving the dry yarn in a tightly wound package. Artisans use a hand spinning Charka to transfer the yarn into a small reel. The compact reel will be used for the warp of Dhaka Muslin. While the yarn is transferred, artisans manually feel the yarn to make sure it contains no tangles or knots.
The bobbin calibration: working with thread nearly invisible to the human eye (Step 8)
Bobbin calibration is the step where the remaining yarns are transferred to a bobbin. The winding process may look straightforward, but it needs to be distributed equally in the bobbin for weaving.
Even a minor imbalance can cause distribution or snag the yarn while weaving. Keeping track of ultra-fine yarn is often quite hard. Artisans put a black cloth to see the yarn easily.
What is Tana Hata? How the warp is laid across the horizon (Step 9)
Tana Hata is the process where weavers lay thousands of ultra-fine muslin yarn and align them for weft. In this process, artisans stretch the yarn horizontally across the outside distance.
They usually do tana hata on the riverbank. This step is highly sensitive and significant as it lays the foundation on which weavers will put their months of careful and artistic labor.
The process is all about teamwork. Three master artisans coordinate to make a perfect structure of muslin yarn in Tana hata.
What is Sana Loy? The reed, the Sia, and the geometry of woven air (Step 10)
Sana Loy is the complex step where threads are mapped with warp lines through a specialized bamboo reed. Weavers need to do it with geometric accuracy.
Sia is the metric needed for making sana loy. One sia equals 100 parallel strands. A standard muslin piece uses 15 sia, which means 1500 individual strands. Muslin Dhaka uses 18 sia or 1800 threads for better quality. Extreme muslins are made with 22 SIA.
A comparison can help you understand what 1500 or 2200 thread parallel yarn means. European fine linen contains about 400 total yarns in its warp; Dhaka Muslin uses 4 to 5 times more yarn for the warp.
What is Tana Pechano? Anchoring 1800 warp threads to the pit loom (Step 11)
After the warps are aligned, artisans need to connect the yarn with the loom. This process is called tana pechano. It requires high focus and months of training to wind the fine yarns with the pit loom without mistakes or breaking. Master artisan winds the yarn with her soft touch and perfect movement. This process is intentionally done slowly, because even one mistake can ruin a lot of hard work.
Muslin fabrics are made in a family or community of weavers, where different people specialize in different skills. Some of them are experts on tana pechano, some work on markoron, while weavers weave. In the age of machine production, muslin relies on artistic intelligence and human bonding.
What is Boy Loy? Threading the heddles, why cotton, not metal (Step 12)
Boa loy is the final and highly technical preparation step for Dhaka Muslin. An artisan carefully threads every warp line through the loom’s heddles.
A hand-knotting cotton boa shutter is used instead of modern metal pieces. Due to the muslin yarn’s extreme fineness, metal is not suitable for the process. Soft cotton loops hold the invisible muslin yarn gently without breaking it.
Phase III – Weaving: the birth of woven air/ Morning Dew
What is Buna? The sacred act of weaving Dhaka Muslin on the pit loom (Step 13)
Buna is the secret, deeply meditative act of weaving authentic Dhaka Muslin. The weaving takes place in a traditional pit loom. There is an actual pit where artisans sit while working on the loom. In this process, the hand weaver presses the foot treadle, which opens the weft.
Weaver then passes the shuttle between the weft yarns, making one layer of warp. The warp was then pressed with a wooden structure to keep the yarns in place. Due to muslin’s extreme fineness & design, weaving is the slowest step of all.
After a full day of work, weavers can progress 2/3 inches depending on the complexity of the design. Master weavers do not sketch or map the intricate muslin designs. Years of working with jamdani patterns allow them to visualize each pattern and weave it by hand without any mistakes.
Phase IV – Finishing: The Final Awakening of Perfection
What is Kashal? How washing awakens the muslin after the loom (Step 14)
After the muslin weaving is done, artisans make a small party cooking meat and traditional food. They invite everyone who contributed to the process and have a good time together. However, the saree is not fully prepared yet.
Kashal (washing) is the step where muslin goes through washing to remove starch and other impurities. In the past, this was done with the fresh river water; today, we do a dry wash. After washing, it reveals true beauty and elegance.
Individual muslin yarns can not go through the weaving process; that’s why starch is applied. But after the muslin is prepared, the yarns do not need the starch layer. Washing gives Dhaka Muslin its woven into the air quality by removing starch.
What is Rafugari? The invisible mending discipline of the Rafugar (Step 15)
Rafugiri is the microscopic mending process where an experienced master artisan inspects every millimeter of muslin. There are currently a very small number of expert refugees in Bangladesh.
They use light angles and strong magnification to identify tiny gaps and imperfections of the 500-count weave. They use a tiny needle in the process. Rafugari is the ultimate quality filter before the fabric receives its finishing touch.
What is Kundi? The final mallet-beating that creates muslin’s moon-like luster (Step 16)
Kundi is the last step of producing muslin historically. In this stage, the muslin is beaten with a smooth wooden mallet. This process unlocks the signature look and fluffy structure of dhakai muslin.
First, artisans put the muslin on a flat surface and beat it rhythmically with a polished wooden mallet. The impact flattens the round wooden fibers from outside, which causes the light to reflect evenly. It fluffs the inside of the muslin fabric, giving it an airy feel. This is how the legendary Dhaka Muslin was made.
In today’s world, our artisans do the kundi with gentle beats, often bamboo & artisanal skill.
How long does it take to make a Dhaka muslin?
One Dhaka Muslin saree takes about 3-6 months, a muslin scarf can take 1-3 months. But stating just the time can not capture the intense labor in the process.
Before weaving, there are 12 steps that may take from up to fifteen days. One bobbin of yarn needs a minimum of 2 days of spinning.
After everything is prepared, the process of weaving takes place. Two muslin weavers work on a single saree. It can take 3-6 months of continuous weaving every day.
After a whole day of high focus weaving, weavers can only see a few inches of progress. This is due to the 500 to 750 Nm extremely fine yarns. A 500 thread count yarn means that one gram of muslin yarn is 500 meters long.
FAQ
How is Dhaka Muslin made?
Dhaka Muslin is made with extreme precision of artistic skills and completely hand-made techniques. Master artisans produce muslin with 16 distinct steps that can extend for 3-6 months. More than 20 people are involved in the production at different stages.
What is Phuti Karpas cotton?
Phuti Karpas or Gossypium arboreum var. Neglecta is a rare species of low-yielding, high-quality cotton. It is essential for making Dhaka Muslin. It only grows in rich riverbank soil around Dhaka.
What does “Woven Air” mean?
In the historical records, Dhaka Muslin was stated as ‘Woven Air’ to explain its light, breathable nature. The word woven air originates from Mughal courts.
Why is Dhaka Muslin so expensive?
The price tag is the reflection of the rarity of raw material cotton & months of high-skilled human labor. The handmade process involved a minimum of 20 people in various stages over 3-6 months. The extreme craftsmanship, rare raw textile & huge skilled hour effort make it the most expensive & imperial luxury.
Can Dhaka Muslin be made by machine?
No, Dhaka Muslin can not be made by machine; it’s just the opposite of mechanical mass production. The process is extremely subtle to make a muslin. No machine can make it. Most importantly, muslin is a human art that needs human focus & muscle memory, contrary to the mechanical mass production.
Where is Dhaka Muslin made?
Dhaka Muslin is now made in the Muslin Dhaka facility in Rupgonj. Also, it is produced in Muslin House, a facility under the Muslin Revival Project in the Narayanganj district.
What is the difference between Dhaka Muslin and regular muslin?
Dhaka Muslin is an imperial grade of fabric, made as a luxury art form. While regular muslin is just a thicker, regular cotton fabric made with plain weaving in industrial production. One is a luxury fabric, while the other is your regular kitchen appliance. See the types of Muslin fabric.
How do I care for a Dhaka Muslin shawl or garment?
Dhaka Muslin is a living, breathing artifact that requires careful handling. It’s something you will wear a few times a year on special occasions. Make sure to avoid any scratches or pulls while moving. Only dry wash. Dhaka Muslin provides an in-depth care guide to handle royal Muslin.
Conclusion
Despite leading Muslin Dhaka for seven years and witnessing the delicate choreography of making muslin, I have only scratched the surface while writing it. Making Dhaka Muslin is a profound practical subtlety, where physical intelligence completely beats written words or a technical manual.
Without failing thousands of times, your muscle memory will never pick up the right tension for spinning muslin yarn. Without a perfectly spread reel, it will not glide through the shuttle. There are countless subtle things that can not be expressed with words.
Those micro adjustments are totally invisible to outside observers. All those human subtleties contribute to the final product that no machine can create. Muslin is the practical example of how slow, human devotion combines into something magical. Please check all the extra ordinary Muslin in Shop section.
