Green tunic with beads-4

Sequins and beads were added to the outer borders worked in chain stitches.

gregold-s7

The borders are completed and were placed on the tunic .

gregold-sleeves

The border pattern

gregold-spattern

 

Green ikat tunic with multi coloured yoke-5

The embroidery part of the yoke and sleeves are completed on this tunic. The yoke and the lace placed over the tunic fabric looked like this-

bryegreen-1

After this ,the tunic went to the hands of the tailor, where the borders on sleeves were attached as I wanted, but when it came to the yoke, he left a gap on the yellow border, which was not as I expected, I had wanted the lace to be attached at the end of the border, just as the empire cut. but……!

bryegreen-2

To rectify this , I worked two paisleys on the border on both sides, still this looks more like a tribal dress than a tunic top. LOL! I think these kind of designs will look better on thin or slim figures , which I am definitely not! Though the result was not I expected, the joy of working on this design gave me the contentment. I am waiting for a suitable occasion to wear it !

bryegreen tunic-3

If anyone shows interest in the pattern of the yoke and sleeves, I can post it here.

 

Green ikat tunic with multi coloured yoke-4

The details of the embroidery done on yellow fabric for the yoke . the border is the same as sleeves except for paisleys.

The border with orange kutch motifs and green paisleys.

yeyk-1

The paisleys and diamond shapes outlined with red thread in back stitch. The rest of the kutch motifs worked with brown thread.

yeyk-2

Chain stitch borders in cream thread, and green sequins attached with gold beads.

yeyk-3

The paisleys are further embellished with antique gold sequins

yeyk-4

The completed yokes and tunic on my next.

 

Blue kantha paisley tunic-3

This is the last post on this tunic
I did not take  many  pictures of the work in progress.
In this picture the tunic is completed with all the filling stitches.
The tunic is also sewn with the border I had mentioned previously.
I added a small pearl beads to match the embroidery, in between the inner paisley and the outer paisley lines.
The tunic-

kantha embroidery paisley on tunic

The filling are worked in two strands of cotton skiens. This paisley is so simple , that it can be used motif for borders. Will make an enchanting border. The kantha embroidery looks beautiful when it gets a woven look.
.I was very much impressed with this pattern. The colours and embroidery are very simple.In this tunic this paisley pattern is the hero!

 

Blue kantha paisley tunic-2

The outlining of the center in this paisley pattern is completed in back stitch in 3 strands .

kantha paisley- WIP2

The kantha embroidery [running stitch ] starts from here.
I decided to use only two colours based on the border .
The inner paisley is worked with running stitch filling, in dark blue thread. This was worked with two strands of cotton skein.

kantha paisley -WIP3

The completed kantha embroidery paisley on my next post.

 

Blue kantha paisley tunic-1

I found this paisley pattern somewhere on the net. Thought it can be used for kantha[running stitch] work.
I just had to make very small adjustments, to make the pattern symmetrical.
I had a blue[another] blue mangalagiri cotton fabric, I also found a dark blue managalagiri[again] with border,this border I used for sleeves.
Dark blue and half/white colours threads were used for embroidery.
Now for the actual embroidery- the outer pattern of the paisley was worked in dark blue, I have started with half white on the inner pattern in this picture.
These are worked in back stitch with three strands of thread.

kantha paisley on blue tunic-WIP 1

The filling stitch details will be on my next post.

 

Blue and green tunic-3

With this detail the yoke design is complete. The length of the yoke is 18 inches. The neck is not part of the design.

Whenever I work on these type of traditional designs, I generally cover the area with embroidery and embellishments . But for this design, embroidery was worked on the traced lines only. Mirrors were the only addition.
The embroidery was used just to enhance the colours on this tunic.
The last part of the yoke-

blue green tunic closeup-3

I wear a light green mercerized cotton salwar [Indian pants] for this tunic.
The full yoke-

blue and green tunic

I am fond of paisley designs, this pattern has 6 paisleys. This pattern would also work for –kashmiri embroidery,bead work ,kantha work and sequin work.

 

Blue and green tunic-2

In this tunic, the inspiration for the colours came from a kanjeevaram silk saree. The body of the saree was in blue, the border and pallu[ the part , which hangs over the shouder] were in light green colour. the border and pallu had zari woven all over.
With the blue colour as the tunic fabric, the colour choice was- light green to lemon yellow, from white to medium blue for the embroidery.
The next part of the yoke-

blue&green tunic-closeup2

This tunic is more than five years old, this was the first time I used silk thread for embroidery. I have been using silk threads quite often after this.
The complete yoke on my next post.

 

Blue and green tunic-1

I am a fan of Indian traditional designs.
South India, where I come from, is also famous for kanjeevaram silk sarees.
The colours of these silk sarees also captivate me. I liked this blue[medium] and green combination, which I thought would work well for tunic design also.
The pattern for this embroidered yoke is a combination paisleys, florals and mirrors.
The stitches used were-chain, longand short, stem, buttonhole frenchknots and mirror work.
A part of the yoke, starting from the neck-

blue&green tunic-closeup1

The yoke design is spread over half of the front side of the tunic.I did not work on the sleeves. Will continue with the tunic on my next post.

 

Green tunic in zardosi embroidery

This is the first time I tried working zardosi embroidery.
This embroidery is quite prevalent in north India and Pakistan. The embroidery is very old. I do not know whether it came during mughal period or before that. In this embroidery , metallic tubes[ I think, Lupions] are used to fill various shapes- flowers, leaves, paisleys etc,.
Sometimes these shapes are outlined with threads , other times they are left as it is. This embroidery is worked on wedding and other festive clothing.Men’s wear also are embellished with zardosi.
The embroidery patterns are generally, florals, geometric shapes.
The embroidery is done in aari work, the metallic tubes are stitched by hand. the work is quite time consuming. So they are costly also.
These days , there are lots of commercially done pieces , which are easily available. The embroidery done on them are not of good quality, especially the work done on sarees and lehengas.the fabric used is also very cheap.
When I wanted to do this embroidery, the lupions were not easy to buy, I got these from Hyderabad, near Charminar.
With the materials in hand I started with a medium sized paisley motif with neck design.
The tunic fabric was mercerized cotton in green colour.
The embroidery was done in light green for leaves and very light green for stem. The flowers I worked in zardosi embroidery. I did not outline the flowers[ at that time I did not know that could be done].
The tunic-

green zardosi

In the close up it is clearly seen that Iam yet to acquire the technique if this art-

green zardosi-closeup

After looking at lots of zardosi embroidery pieces , now I have understood other aspects of this embroidery. Still, Iam in the learning process. And this tunic is also one of my favourites.