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This is tunic is from the old set, which I have worn for some time now. This embroidery was done in 2005. The tunic fabric is printed voile, which is ideal wear for summer.
It started as a pant top and ended as a salwar[ Indian pants] top.
The tunic is light green , with green and pink floral print.
The yoke fabric is mangalagiri cotton in parrot green.
The embroidery idea was to work some geometrical patterns in  herringbone stitch around the  mirrors.
The pattern was drawn on graph and then traced on to the yoke fabric.
The mirrors were worked in the same green colour.
The other colours were, shades of pink and green , lemon yellow.
The yoke-

pink mirrorwork tunic-1

Another picture-

pink mirrorwork tunic-2

Closeup-

pink mirrorwork tunic -clsoeup

The fabric is so comfortable to wear, being in favourite colours of many , generally most people like this.
It is better to have certain sure colour combinations in mind, before working on any project, because embroidery being an embellishment and value addition to any fabric, encouragement comes from others positive comments.

After coming from Chennai, I was totally engrossed with writing the kutchwork tutorial.
What I did not expect was- the pictures of my working would be completely hidden from view.
I don’t know what to do. In future I can post pictures separated by some sentences.
But this time the pictures are too many, that I cannot go edit them too. But this tutorial is already available on the net. I ‘ll just take care from the next tutorial. Another excuse for my laziness.I was quite disappointed after two hours of posting.
That said, I’ll get along with my usual tunic posts.
I took some pictures of the old tunics , which are kept in Chennai.
This is one of them.
The tunic is light green mangalagiri cotton with stripes.the salwar[ Indian pants] are in dark orange[ nearly copper]. We generally refer to this colour as copper.
The yoke is inspired by a fashion magazine picture. I designed the embroidery pattern, based on traditional Indian design
The main embroidery stitch was chain stitch over cross stitch, it is worked on outlines and border.
The other stitches used are- satin st, stem st, chain st and straight st.
The close up-

light green7 copper tunic closeup

Full yoke-

light green& copper tunic-yoke

I have worn this tunic many times,thought it does n’t catch the eye immediatly,it does has a silent appeal of its own.

The kutch work tutorial is posted here.

some pictures are hiding I don’t know why!

I am still working on this tutorial.

 Never realised it’ll be  so tedious.But Iam enjoying it.

I thought of some important things to keep in mind , while working this  embroidery.-
1. The thickness of the thread depends on the size of the basic square.
2. After the pattern is filled with the stitch, the cloth on which it is done should not be seen. The thread weaving should cover the whole pattern.
3. Important- the thread path- the thread always goes up and down alternatively, this keeps the embroidery intact.looks attractive also. If there are mistakes, it is visible to the eye, and the finished  embroidery does not look good.

4.  Take time to draw the design as perfect and neat as possible, otherwise it is difficult to – move around- and simultaneously rectify the original design.
5. Practice a lot. understanding is better that way.

 Thought I ‘ll post these points while I  write the tutorials too.

Whenever someone asked for a kutchwork tutorial, I was putting it off for a future date.

 If anyone is new to this embroidery , please visit this site which has dealt with this embroidery eloborately-

kutchwork tutorial

I ‘ll also start from the basics,but I feel Bhavani has done a woderful job. So if you have some doubts , you can check and compare with Bhavani’s tutorial.

Deepa has also done  a tutorial  on this with a variation, how to do kutchwork over a shisha[mirror]?

 I haven’t tried her version of working this stitch.

As far as I know , there are three methods of working this stitch.

1.In this type , the edges  are blunt or curved- this is the most popular variety.Bhavani has given tutorial for this type.

type 1curved edge

2. In this type, the edges are pointed- the final effect  looks different. I learn’t this type  and later progressed to do both types.

type2 pointed edge

3. In this type, the squares are filled like weave.

type 3 woven square

All kutch work patterns can be worked in type1 or type 2 methods. type 3 being a filling method can be used  only for appropriate patterns.

From my next post , I ‘ll start with the  most basic  square and move on to small motifs, border,and finish with the working of the geometrical motifs posted on my blog.

The completed blue tunic with the pink yoke, with the inspiration of the tailor ofcourse.
I did not give this design . I wanted him to sew a1 inch piece on the sleeves, and an 1 inch piece around the yoke. The neck was never mentioned at all. He followed his idea of design and did this –

bluepink tunic-1

He also said that the embroidery was’ really good’. LOL!

bluepinktunic-2bluepinktunic-3