How long would it take to make a dress which has no knots, seams, joins, darts, elastic, velcro, buttons or even stitches and yet fits like a glove?

Forever? Or virtually impossible?

Neither. Only five hours of work daily for a year and a half.

Errol Pires, faculty of textiles, NID and NIFT, has just finished fashioning such a dress by split ply weaving.

It is a story that dates back to 1980 when he made his first trip to Jaisalmer to discover more about beautiful, intricately made camel belts he came across in the course of his work. When he reached the desert city, he was told he had come a decade too late to catch the artisans who once resided in the area. His only hope was the sand dunes of Sam, some 55 km outside the city where he could chance upon a lone artist or two.

He braved a five-hour journey by local bus and a painful trudge through the burning sand in thin chappals. But he finally came across one single artist who still knew the art.

“I watched him work, took pictures and decided I could do it as well. But the first time I was all thumbs. Step by step, I learned. And after that, I practised. I kept at it day and night.”

After 20 more visits to Badmer, Bikaner, Jaisalmer, he met his guru who taught him the finer points of the technique: Ishvarsingh Bhatti, a peon in the collector's office.

The art of split ply weaving, mentioned in the Ain-i-Akbari, is probably the only art in the world in which the most intricate of patterns, and garments can be made — in one piece. Probably the reason why the art died out.

Earlier people used to make such belts while on the move or while grazing cows or sheep. But till today no machine has been designed for this technique and it becomes just too laborious.

Errol is worried that in less than a decade, the art will have vanished. The few artisans who know it are all over 55. So he is teaching it to all his students and in workshops in London, Switzerland, Scotland, where ever he goes, in the hope others would continue with the tradition.

May be some day, someone will.