Answers

Preeta from Muscat , had enquired about transfering  embroidery patterns-

there are 2 types of pettern books-

1.neck and yoke design books from  India- from these books  we can start on an idea  for embroidery and move on to actual pattern making.

2.textile and traditional Indian design books are also available.Requires lots of browsing on bookshops.these books are also very expensive.

For tranfering designs-

I design the pattern in its original size on an  A3 size paper or graph paper.

Then I use white or yellow carbon to trace it in a cloth, it is too risky to draw on the cloth[ biggest problem is the symmetry]. if the cloth itself is light coloured, then I use the corresponding colour carbon.

you can also enlarge your desired pattern and then trace it on to the cloth, this is the safest method.

Hope  my answers are useful for you, I can be more specific , if I have an idea of the project.

 

Happy NEW YEAR 2010

Wishing everyone a very a happy new year.

I just returned from India[again-last year alone I made 4 trips toChennai]after celebrating our school 25th year reunion,this concept is still new here,we enjoyed throughly.

first time I fasted a whole day on vaikunta ekadasi- also visited 5 temples.

looking back-

 I didn’t complete the stitch explorer and TDSITM challenges.

Managed to complete more projects than previous years.

Organised my projects this year.

Decided to set realistic goals in 2010.

2009 was the first year I set goals- I didn’t reach them , but completed over 70 projects [including stitch challenges and small projects].Realised, I accomplish more when I enjoy my needlework, the challenges just add more spice  to this.I did not allot time for the tutorials on this blog . Don’t want to jinx by  writing more on this.we’ll see.

 

Holidays in Switzerland

We had 4 days holidays for Eid here., which was joyfully spent in Switzerland. I read somewhere, that Swiss is one ‘picture postcard scenery’ after another. They did not exaggerate. It was awesome!. some pictures-

view from room,Interlaken

Seen from the train

Jungfraujoch

This is first time we are seeing [live] snow. Till now it was only on TV. we were excited like children.Still I missed my emboidery. These were taken at the historical museum-

Tapestry

 

Woman's shirt yoke

 They were all preserved on very good condition. we were at the right place at the right time for Lucern festival [Santa clause] parade. Still hearing the sound of cowbells! ha ha ha!

 

Blue tunic

This tunic is a light blue hand printed fabric. It is  a very fine cotton,ideal for summer wear. The color was perfect for jeans .but later on ,this also took the avatar of salwar top[Indian tunic].I made a  square pattern around  the mirror and repeated it as  a border design.-

Light blue cotton tunicFor the central motif, I just extended the basic pattern. the sleeve border design-sleeves of blue tunic

Just a touch of light green and very light blue for colour coordination. The tunic is done and resting in India, for the summer.

 

Another green embroidery

This tunic is a mangalgiri handloom cotton.I seem to be doing lots of green this year.Wish I had known of these  patterns before,it would have been easier. this tunic was sewn  and sitting on my wardrobe for months.I liked the colour combination, forgetting I already had too many greens.Finally I decided to do a small yoke in chain stitch.With the lemonish green printed salwar, the colur choice wasn’t many.The tunic started like this-

chain stitch tunic

This type of embroidery, done fully in chain stitch is very common in kashmiri embroidery.They use Aari needles to work the patterns, Iam not familiar with aari needle, so this was just normal chain stitch, done on kashmiri yoke pattern.The finished piece  looked like this-

green mangalagiri

This sure looks dull!Generally  I prefer  contrasting or complimenting colours.And I have 2 more green tunics to design.And I don’t even like green that much!

 

Inspirations

Sharon had pointed out this flickr page on her blog. This is site so very useful.I never seem to get satisfied with the designs I have, and also love vintage patterns.This is a great resource for this.

Another site I found very inspiring for crazyquilting, henna designs, rangoli, needlepoint,seamtreatments,desinging borders, motifs-zentangle. their gallery is full of ideas.

Yesterday I joined this new[? maybe for me] group on ning on hand embroidery.I have to put in more efforts towards this new venture.

I visited this blog by Judy. She is sharing her expertise  with the world through her blog. beautiful and useful designs.

I also came across this BAS[Build A Seam] challenge on this blog. Seems quite interesting.

Iam fascinated by crazy quiting seam treatments, I haven’t started on them so far, but the eyecandy available for this artform on the blogs are countless.On oneside Iam inspired to start and do lots, but Iam dejected to start sooooooolate, when will ever do all these things? I am cheating now, I have started taking closeup shots of my tunic yokes, to pass them of  as decorative seams.[very smart].

Another request came for kutchwork tutorial , I ‘ll start working on them , and post the pictures and tutorial  SOON.

 

 

Red and Blue tunic

My friend showed me a tunic in a very soft cotton fabric.I liked the texture and how it draped on the body[ similar to [crepe]. There’s  one fabric -mulmul. which is a semitransparent cotton,loves to cling to the body, and with our Madras weather[very humid], we just followed wherever we it went. We kept pulling it away  from our skin-very  inconvenient, so it was worn as a saree. When I went to Madras , I  bought a few[1  never seems to be enough for me] of this nameless fabric.This tunic is  blockprinted  in dark blue.After browsing the wills India fashion week s/s, was inspired to do this pattern.

blue,red sleeves

The sleeves were fully done in red.This is the usual gujarati/rajasthani sleeve pattern. The embroidery  covers the upper arm.Mirrors,antique gold sequins were also used for embellishing.

front panel

I did three of these panels. the finished tunic is -

blue red tunic

 All the three panels are not seen here,they are all same.

 

Violet top

This one is a double colour[violet & medium pink] cotton readymade top.

I had to wear a saree for a religious function  at my brothers place. It was just before my nephew’s wedding. I had cracked my right pinkie, so my right hand was plastered and slinged.Blouse for the saree is generally fitted to our body, with this huge[not very huge] plaster, I couldn’t put the sleeve through my right arm, my friend suggested I should buy a short top, and wear it for the occasion, which I did.

Now plaster gone, sling gone, Iam having  a very plain short top.I did a small motif with stones, I enlarged the original design now I don’t remember from where] for this-

violet top

 My hubby dear is not too very fond of this very short, loose[XXL]top. It looks like a tent when when I wear it.It fulfilled its need as a blouse,now it is just one more project, maybe It had something to do with the colour I suppose,This top scares him so much,whenever he remembers it ,I have to promise,  not wear it or anything like it!

 

 

Olive green tunic

Iam stiil working on some Indian tunic embroidery.This trip I exceeded myself  on buying fabrics and supplies. I am repeating this as a mantra[ reduces my guilt].I always say to myself,- Iam doing embroidery only on tunics, Iam not venturing into  other styles,now with this shopping spree, it’ll take avery long time to try anything new.I am browsing the net to find inspirations for my designs.

 This green tunic was bought a long time ago, some projects have this tendency to sit on the shelf as UFOs rather than completed projects.this was one such case. the designing also was done a few months ago, I started embroidering, then left it  for some reason. Now, 2 months ago Iwas able to finish the piece. the inspiration for this pattern was from a book-Expressions by K. Prakash. this book is full of traditional Indian designs.

green kurtha-1

Chain stitch was used extensively, a little bit of stem for the creeper[leaf?] Inside border, a line of feather stitch.Antique gold sequin for the flower center.

Green kurtha- closeup

 

Kutch and sequins on cream tunic

The  cream tunic is readymade,bought to match a printed patiala salwar.It was too plain.I did a very simple  kutch work border,-

kutch yoke

Then I added a few antique gold sequins  and  beads over the outline. This piece was completed in 4 days.

yellow yoke

I took the photo before ironing, so it doesn’t look  appealing to the eyes. asusual my tailor attached the piece for me. The designing for this yoke  was on graph paper.