Works in Progress Wednesdays- 240.

It was New Year day, after deciding to go with the projects in progress, by afternoon, an idea to start a new tunic project came to mind.
The tailor had marked a black silk tunic for embroidery 2 days before 2020 started.

The gold fabric with black  border lines is a long stole [duppatta] for this black tunic. Earlier, I had drawn and prepared a single paisley design for this. After I  traced the pattern onto the fabric, my friend came with a sewn tunic, which she got from the tailor that day. He had sewn it well, she wanted to incorporate a small  motif all over the front of the tunic, which she had seen somewhere, but couldn’t get hold of it again .I tried some stitching on the inside neck with sample threads to give reality to her idea.

I started marking the placements of the motif and drew an upright cross[2 cm] on them that night. Next day I worked 2 motifs, and searched my stash also for similar options.

Her idea when she said I couldn’t interpret in embroidery, after deliberating for some time changing the metallic threads, we could arrive at something common. This is the motif she is happy with.It is worked brown metallic thread, silver metallic thread and same green silk thread.

Total number of motifs -31. I am still working on them. I completing each and moving onto another. This might be completed by next week.

 

Works in Progress Wednesdays-228

I could complete one project during this week. Chain stitch was worked around the outline with blue silk thread on this neckline embroidery. With this the piece is ready to go to the tailor.

Cluster of three small pearl beads are being added to the feather stitches this week on this blue tussar tunic. This is still in progress.

The work continues on the other side of this plum cotton tunic.

It is hard set these aside and start working on challenges. May be possible next week. Happy with one finish.

 

Plum and yellow tunic

This tunic top was worked in 2013.
The tunic fabric was bought to match with the ready to wear Patiala salwar pant.

A simple pattern to be incorporated with gold beads.

The embroidery with beads, sequins and mirrors.

Detail

The sewn tunic.

 

Works in Progress Wednesdays-219

New monitor was set up on Monday. Images copied from hard disk yesterday. Today I am organisng the folders.
Now for the works in progress in embroidery.
The old kutchwork yoke looked like this before I started removing the beads, sequins and changing the colour.

It looks like this now, the next step is to replace blue with yellow.

The front of the neutral tussar silk tunic is being worked now with zardosi beads, pearl beads and sequins.

The leaves and stems were worked on the panels of the cream silk cotton fabric for this cream chiffon tunic. Now the progress is on the flowers.

The neckline embroidery for the printed blue crepe tunic is quite slow, still started with the dark blue thread.

This past week was quite progressive, did some catching up with old UFO’s

 

Works in Progress Wednesdays-216

My PC is being replaced by another one. Still Waiting for the monitor to be set up. This period I am taking a break from Internet. I could have used the phone, but did not.
The stitch challenges are still to be worked. There are many interesting stitches on SSS challenge, but the projects take most of the time. Being summer[very hot for the past few days] the silk fabrics are set aside and cotton fabrics are getting attention.
The towel edgings were completed.
The old dark red yoke which was started a few weeks ago, went to the tailor after attaching the mirrors on it.

The sewn tunic looks like this, I had thought he would stitch around the shape of the yoke. It was not to be. So another few mirrors can be sewn on it. The markings of the mirror placements are done with white pencil.

This crepe silk fabric somehow came in the summer season awaiting attention.

A synthetic fabric [not sure whether it is satin] in gold is chosen to work the embroidery. The design is a border around the neckline.

When we were in India last month, I bought some fine cotton fabrics for tunics. This fabric is used for blouses for sarees. They come is so many colours. The first colour choice to work next project is navy blue.

I wanted to do this for my friend, she preferred a lighter colour. I had a dark blue tunic with floral machine embroidery in orange bought in Delhi a few decades ago. After deciding to use the same colour scheme on this tunic, a visit to the parlour changed that idea. The present colours are –

A medium size yoke pattern is drawn on paper.
That’s the progress during the week. This coming week should be a productive one.

 

 

Work In Progress Wednesdays-211

Projects
The work with peach thread and stones was completed. It is good to start small projects running along with long projects. The enthusiasm does not diminish during long projects because of these small ones. Over the week, the work on this cream fabric with blue silk thread continued.

I also started the work on neutral colour tussar with gold metallic thread. Both the projects will take a lot of time.

It is time to work a small project. This striped fabric is also tussar silk. A simple neck design was drawn. And the same was traced on to cream colour silk cotton fabric. More details on next post.

 

 

Work In Progress Wednesdays-209

I am still working on projects this week. Generally, handloom cotton, silk, crepe fabrics are bought during trips to India. The season being cool here in Muscat, the silk and crepe fabrics are taken out for designing and embroidering. Some work is rich, intricate and time consuming. This year, even elaborate work is interesting.
Last week, the picture of the peach on cream chiffon was not clear. This picture shows the circles worked in detached chain and fly stitches. The chain outline is worked in two shades of peach silk threads.

This week’s progress is rope stitch on the stems and stone embellishment.

The work on navy blue blouse is faster because of closed herringbone filling. Realizing now, the gold metallic thread must have been harder to work, that is why it took so much time. Since it was repetitive, it was relaxing. The picture of the progress was not taken, because of the same motif.
A tussar silk in neutral colour is with the tailor for marking of neck and sleeves. The idea will be shared on next week’s post.

 

Work In Progress Wednesdays-208

I am working only on projects this week.
Another idea is tried out on navy blouse. The paisleys are filled with closed herringbone stitch with variegated metallic thread. The initial idea was to fill these in chain stitch, realizing the time taken for this project, decided to fill with closed herringbone. One motif done! 5 more to go.

The work on cream chiffon tunic started with tracing of the neck line on cream silk cotton fabric. Circles were drawn to work flowers. 7 detached chains and fly stitches are worked on the circles. This stitch arrangement is still in progress. The picture quality is not very clear.

I also found a lost project which I was searching for quite some time. This was a saree project. A few motifs were traced on one end of the saree, where it is draped over the left shoulder. This is called the pallu [Hindi] or thalippu [Tamil] of the saree. This saree was hidden in the wardrobe all this time.

 

Work In Progress Wednesdays-201

Project work seems to be increasing. The routine is to buy fabrics from India, design and work the embroideries, then they are given to the tailor to be sewn as tunic sets or blouses. This was going well till the projects were small or medium.
Now the projects are taking more time, the stitch challenges were not started for the past few weeks.
Some thinking and planning are in order. A new year resolution may be?
After swapping the border onto another tunic, a small border of triangles made of herringbone stitches with chain stitch was worked very near to the attached border.

This is another tunic in satin silk, which came from the tailor yesterday. Small heart shaped pearl beads can be put to use.

The bluish green fabric is some type of tussar silk saree bought from FabIndia during this recent trip. The navy fabric is raw silk for the blouse. The embroidery work will be on the sleeves of the blouse.

 

Work In Progress Wednesdays-147

Though the challenge stitches are not worked as band samplers, the outline stitch on SSS challenge was used on a blue shirt project. This is a work in progress.

The blue jute was marked and the embroidery is consuming most of my time. Simple stitches worked over and over again. This week, I started with knots inside the fly stitches.

Some wooden beads were worked in a pattern on the copper printed tunic also.

Focus will be on blue jute cotton tunic during the week, because it has to go to the tailor. If possible, the work on blue shirt can be squeezed in between. Working on the copper tunic and blue shirt is stimulating. Small projects take less time to complete. And working on sewn clothing is satisfying too, they become ready to wear after the completion of the embroidery.