Brocade is a type of silk which is shuttle-woven often made with coloured silk threads with or without gold or silver strings. Brocade uses a draw loom rather than a weft technique. During the early days gold and silver was drawn into extremely fine wire which was used both for warp and weft and woven into fabric. The method of drawing out gold thread is interesting, though slow and laborious. Gold is first beaten to the needed length and size then passed through eye holes of ever decreasing size till it becomes as fine as a cotton thread and finally woven on a handloom. Kinkhabs - woven flowers, Shikargarh brocades were considered to be master-pieces of weaver's art.
Though Banaras is the chief centre of brocade, this art has spread to other places too, such as Surat, Aurangabad, Bhopal and Tanjore.