Ilkal was an ancient weaving center that has its history dating back to the 8th century AD.  The growth of these sarees is attributed to the patronage provided by the local chieftains in and around the town of Ilkal. Ilkal saree takes its name from the town of Ilkal in the Bagalkot district of Karnataka. These sarees are locally woven using cotton warp on the body and art silk warp for border and art silk warp for pallu portion of the saree. Art silk is replaced by pure silk in some cases.

The peculiar characteristic of the saree is warp threads for body and pallu are prepared separately either with art silk or pure silk depending upon the quality required. Thirdly border portion of the warp is prepared as the pallu warp. The body and pallu are joined in a loop technique locally called as Topi Teni. This technique is only used exclusively at Ilkal. There four different traditional designs produced. Namely - Chikki Paras, Gomi, and recently modified traditional design Gayathri.