COTTON SUMMER TOP IN PINK

Crepe Dress

This is one more dress for Maria, my friend. Bought this crepe silk saree at a sale to raise funds for an NGO. Very sweet of her to buy this saree and donate to charity too. 

There was small printed border at the edge and a non descriptive print for the pallu. It had a sober print and colour, until I separated both the pallu and border. Suddenly it looked very attractive and fetching.

I must say, Maria has an eye for fabric and colour!

Because the fabric is crepe, it has a great fall, I gave a mild cowl neck. 

Knee legth, sleeveless, back zipper are the features of this dress.

Made a scarf to go with the dress, from the left over pallu fabric.

The fabric, print, and the fit are the main stay. Did it turn out well? What do you think, 

Handloom cotton Dress with border

This is my friend Maria. She wanted a few dresses made. She bought this brand new saree at a sale for a throw away price of Rs.150 ore close to $2.5. 
It is a cotton handloom saree, all of 6 m. long and 1.1m wide. Has a lovely zari border in multiple colours.
Though I made dresses earlier, had not done many with zipper at the back. So this dress gave me a lot of practice. Maria wanted a wide neck, 3/4 length sleeves. the border at the hem of the dress and sleeves gave the dress a formal look. The bodice is made out of the Pallu of the saree. 
One interesting aspect of this dress and Maria is that the fabric is semi transparent, which make it beautiful. It needs backing / lining, and since there was a lot of fabric left over from the saree, Maria wanted the same to be used for lining as well. 
I just loved that idea. What is better than to use the same cloth:

• Perfect colour matching
• Save money on buying separate lining cloth
• Reduce wastage
• Both shrink or not, bleed colour or not, at the same rate...  

Managed to achieve the fit she liked. She is happy. I am happy.

Cotton summer dress to die for

   

This friend of mine bought several sarees at a sale. She wanted dresses made of them. Since I love using what is already there, this turned out to be a very fulfilling experience for me. I encourage anyone who wants to refashion / reuse / re-purpose clothes and fabrics.
Not only she bought beautiful fabrics but also each saree was unique. This saree had delicate embroidery on it all over. The pallu (in navy blue), had very pretty floral motifs sewn on it. So, we used the pallu as the border on the dress. Since it is going to be a summer dress, better to have generous v neck and no sleeves. 
I gave armhole darts to give the bust a better fit. Took a 1" facing for the neckline and sleeve opening. 
First time I stitched zipper on these dresses. I am grateful to her for giving me this opportunity to gain some experience attaching zipper on dresses.
It so happened I saw a tutorial on how to attach zipper and the very next day I got these orders to make three dresses with zippers. I used to be petrified of making clothes with zips, I don't know why. May be because I hadnot seen it done.
Overall, the dress came out well, as you can see she is happy to be wearing and posing for the photos....

Tunic out of saree fabric

On a trip to Dharwad, I wanted to collect a souvenir. Not having much choice, I settled for a Dharwad saree. I didnot need 5.5 m of the fabric, so decided to share it with my niece. It was lying around in my stash for a couple of years before I was fed up of seeing it there and decided to make something with it. Then the hunt began for some suitable pattern  for the cloth. I must point out here that the fabric is semi transparent of cotton and silk mixed weave, silk border and zari design on it.

   Liked this pattern from internet

The drafting, cutting and trials were a long process. Initially I thought of making cap sleeves with the border, after attaching the front and back main pieces, it looked the border on sleeves would be over kill. So dropped the idea of the sleeves. 

           

 Rough sketch showing the borders     Under construction 

Should I use the full width of the border or only part of it, for a thin edging, was a decision I had to make. I decided to as well make it a bold statement. Attaching the borders on the hem turned out to be very challenging. By the time I attached the sides ie, front and back together, I realised I should left more of the border at the ends. I had to attach some more and not to make it look like a patch. The back hem is a straight line, instead it could have been asymmetrical too. Well next time.                                                 

  

   

Aired it a few times already. Get a lot of compliments every time.

Kurta in Moonga Kota fabric

Moonga Kota fabric is generally thing and semi transparent, but then, that is the beauty of that cloth. Since the fabric has some cotton in it, after a couple of washes, it shrank on the sides.
This is part of a set of Churidar / salwar in bright orange, kurta with border and butas and a multi coloured chiffon dupatta. The border design is woven in green, yellow and red. The butas are machine embroidered in matching colours of border. Very pretty fabric overall.
It is a self drafted kurta for myself. Since I made so many kurtas for myself, I get the sizes pat... Hardly need any alterations.
I like border designs, because you get more features to play around with. Instead of using it at the hemline, I took it across the chest. I used part of the orange churidar fabric for lining the bodice, and as facing for the neck and sleeve edging.
3/4 length sleeve, straight cut, side slit, round neck kurta is bright and my go-to dress for any occasion.

Tunic in stretch fabric

    

She is a friend of a friend; visiting Goa. Brought this fabric from Mumbai and wanted me to make a flattering garment for her. 

The fabric is mostly cotton but has considerable stretch to it. And it is thick. Would have been ideal for trousers or a close fitting skirt, because of the stretch. Since she chose the design, i went with it and did my best. The top has a 'V' in the front. The horizontal print of the skirt is attached along the arms of the V. The tunic / dress dips in the front centre. 

Short sleeves and round neck are other features. Took side darts to accommodate bust. it was a rush job or the finishing would have been better...

Cotton kurta in bright print

I stitched this kurta for my neighbour. It is part of a set of 3 pieces; kurta, salwar / churidar, and dupatta. As it so often happens, the dupatta is very pretty, churidar is so-so and the print and colours on the kurta fabric are rather too bright and garish. There were more border designs and different colours on it believe me. She was discouraged by the profusion of designs and colours on the kurta. We tried draping a few different ways, and finally decided to leave out some of those borders and thereby reducing the colour palate to manageable extent! 
Then I got work on the pattern, and suggested taking the border vertically, instead of a hortizontal border as it was intended I guess. She was ok with this idea. Gave it an asymmetrical neckline by keeping the vertical border straight. Cap sleeves were what she wanted, so there they are. Also gave side slits for a comfortable feel.

 There were tiny mirrors stitched on to the front, as can be seen in the photo, rather a pretty feature!

My friend was pleasantly surprised at the outcome and since the fit was also good, she was happy! That is one more happy customer!

Kurta in 3 different Block prints

 My friend recommended me to a close friend of hers. She was more than happy to find someone (me) who suggests designs, and also makes clothes to their specifications. that said, I am particular who I make clothes for. I cannot pin point the exact reasons, but I know who I want to dress. Sometimes I do take on the wrong customer (for me), but overall, get it right. This friend's friend turned out to be the perfect person!!!

he does most of her fabric shopping in New Delhi, and picks up a load of any and all fabrics she likes. She saw a kurta on a mannequin which used 3 different prints; all block prints. She liked it so much, that she went ahead and bought similar prints in similar colour.

The above photo did not do justice to the lovely block prints on mustard colour handloom fabric. Total cloth - 3.5 m

It was a knee length kurta / tunic, having three fourth length sleeves, to be worn over a loose olive green salwar. Depending on the length of the cloth, I used them, larger print in the center and fine print on either side, medium sized print for the sleeves, as it was the smallest piece. Instead of taking darts at the back, I did the adjustment in the seams itself.

The small print became the facing around the round neck, though I would have liked to have had the sleeve print for the facing. 
Beautiful fabric makes for a great fit, and this kurta did come out well.

Cowl neck Cotton Dress

This friend of mine brought his lovely hand-loom cotton fabric in tie and dye design, which she had lying around for ages. There was around 3.5 m. of it. She wanted a dress in summer and which she can wear it as tunic when necessary to wear leggings.
Since the fabric was so soft and fine, I didnot want to spoil the effect of it by adding sleeves. Cowl neck also gives that airy feeling...
used only about 2.5 m. of the fabric.

I took the measurements and based on those drew the pattern (rough sketch) and and did the cutting and sewing myself. Did not use any ready made pattern. 
It fit so well and looked so good on my friend that, I planned to make one myself.

Blue tunic with golden yellow border

A friend of mine came to me with a few of her mom's sarees and she wanted to make new clothes for herself. This blue tunic is one of them. The saree was a midnight blue saree with a tiny paisley print and golden border in silk thread. The fabric is strong and dense for a saree, but ideal for a tunic. I had to line the tunic and used polyester fabric for it, since the colour won't run and fabric does not shrink after washes.

It is a long tunic reaching calf length, sleeveless and stand up collar. I used facing for both sleeve opening and neck. The golden yellow border was attached at the hem.

Collar was made out of the same yellow border. I got the buttons made out of the same border. It is a front open tunic. Below the collar, I gave a slit opening for ease of wearing. To avoid the hassle of popping buttons, gap in between the buttons and difficulty in replacing the buttons (they were made out of the border fabric), I attached the two flaps of the front till the naval. 
I am quite happy with the outcome. It fit well and my friend is looking great in it.

Saree

Grey tunic from a saree

This tunic is a kind of refashion too. Made out of a synthetic Saree. Belonged to her mother, my friend's niece wanted a tunic out of it. Saree showed much wear but had neutral grey colours. it was not particularly transparent but she wanted to line only the bodice and not the sleeves. The only lining fabric I found in the market was polyester, it was thick and a bit stiff. Hopefully after a few washes, it will soften!

Mid thigh length, round neck and full sleeves, the tunic has the pallu (the end of the saree which hangs loose) print (horizontal lines) for the middle part as a wide band. Left over pallu material was used as a border for the sleeves. 
The lining was stitched separately and attached to the front only around the neck and arm hole opening. It was a first for me. Overall, the tunic turned quite well fitting and looks good too.

The original Saree with border

Front open printed Kurta

I loved making this kurta / tunic. The fabric was artificial crepe, quite sturdy kind. The print was summery and bright. This friend of mine wanted a simple A line, sleeve less, round neck, front open kurta with cloth buttons in orange from the print.

 The buttons stop mid thigh level. The kurta fit perfectly and can be worn as a dress or a tunic or as a second layer over t shirt and jeans or shorts.

Chocolate brown Tunic

I had to make a tunic out of this Chiffon kind of saree. The young lady for whom I made the tunic did not want to use the border. So we used only the fabric from the top.There were satin like ribbons running horizontally through the length of the saree. One good thing is that they came vertical in the tunic. Believe me, my sewing machine didnot like at all stitching that smooth satin ribbon part; gave me so much trouble!!!

New Tunic 

It is a straight tunic with full lining in polyester fabric. In between the satin ribbons, the fabric is quite transparent. There are side slits. 

Original saree

Neck and sleeve design

The half sleeves are gathered up to the shoulder in a band and pinned with a button on the shoulder. It should be front open with buttons, but I cheated and attached the plain brown strip of the lining and wooden buttons on to it. That is because the neck is wide enough and deep enough for the wear and why bother with front opening...

Blue cotton Kurta

Though fine beautiful cotton fabric having block printing on it, didnot look very fetching on its own. It came with an orange cut work border with a white cotton lace edging. The border was the width of the kurta, approxi. 30".  

 I had to do something to brighten the neck and should area. So, removed the orange border from the edge, cut it into two pieces and made a trim / yoke below the neckline. Rest of the border was too short to go round the sleeve hem. Iserted it into the should seam, thus making it interesting.
Orange cotton fabric came in the set fro churidar or salwar. part of it is used as 1" edging at the hem of kurta and sleeves. I made an orange piping around the neck.

Cowl neck sleeveless Tunic

Linen striped Summer Dress

This dress is part of a summer wardrobe for a friend. She just picked up fabric at random; it was only 2m in length, thought across it was 44". 
The bodice of the dress has dropped waist in a V shape,  because of which the when the skirt was attached the hemline looks uneven. Took darts through the armhole for a better fit for the bust. Since there was shortage of fabric, I had to use plain white cotton fabric for the neck and armhole facings.
Simple summer dress which fits excellently. 

Red kurta with Applique on it

The fabric is like spun, but synthetic and dull red shade. A friend of mine just dropped it in my lap and told me to do whatever I thought was suitable for her. Since given a free hand, I decided to jazz it up a bit. I had this piece of chiffon printed fabric lying around (almost threw it out a couple times), and felt if I add this in some form, it would lift up the dress. 

As for the form of the kurta, I made a knee length, half sleeve pattern with side slits, about 9" long. There are two uneven panels on the front; narrow one on the left and broad panel to the right. I gave a slit near the hemline and attached the printed chiffon as a facing. It turned out to be a cute detail. Asymmetrical neckline added interest to the kurta.

I cut the chiffon fabric in the shape I wanted (more out of the availability of size and shape), and tacked it in place. Then I stitched blanket stitch / Button hole stitch around the edge, making sure the applique sat flat on the kurta.I used an embroidery frame about 8" dia., to hold the cloth in place. Once done, it was time to add some jazz! I had a few coloureed stones from past project, and tacked them on in clusters. Not visible in the attached photos, alas!

My friend cam around yesterday and tried it on. It fit her well, but she wanted a sleevless kurta, so the sleeves will have to go. May be I will use them on some other piece! how is that?