Suvastra - Indian weaves, embroidery, handmade arts & crafts and all things ethnic

How I use left over fabrics

admin — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 11:42:45 +0000

I’m sharing a few pictures of shirts and kurtas that were tailored for Nehal using left over fabrics of my salwar suits/kurtis (be it bright shades of Mangalgiri cotton with zari borders, Kalamkari, crepes or silk). For a 4-5 yr old, a little over one meter of material is enough to tailor a shirt or kurta. I have a close friend who designs Nehal’s and my clothes and understands exactly what I want and never wastes any material during the stitching process.

Pictures of shirts/kurtas tailored for Nehal (my 5 yr old son) from left over fabrics of my salwar/kurtis.

Eco-friendly natural hand-crafted boxes

admin — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 08:07:36 +0000

These cute handmade boxes are made from eco-friendly natural fibre. The one with tissue pouch, I think, is made from river grass/banana fiber. Both boxes are from ‘Indus Tree’. These boxes make good gifts and I have gifted quite a few of these boxes to friends who in turn ordered more of these boxes for their friends.

Below are hand crafted boxes I bought in an arts & crafts exhibition from a Keralite woman who told me that they were made from natural fibre. She mentioned the name of the plant (from which the fibre is extracted) in Malayalam that I fail to recall. Do you know what the plant could be?

Kalamkari Dupattas

admin — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 09:24:53 +0000

I’m sharing images of few of my cotton and chiffon kalamkari dupattas. I love kalamkari, a unique Indian art of hand-painting of intricate designs on fabrics using eco-friendly, natural, vegetable dyes and gums. This art is ancient and has its roots at Machilipatnam and Kalahasti, Andhra Pradesh.

History and process of Kalamkari.

Wooden Beads

admin — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 06:34:10 +0000

I am one of those who has a soft spot for wooden beads of all shapes and sizes. Here are a few images of Indian hand made jewellry (earings/necklaces), key chains and buttons/accessories using wooden beads. I picked them during annual handicraft exhibitions & artisan melas that were held in Vizag.

Embroidered pattu-langa (pavada)

admin — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 06:36:07 +0000

I’m sharing a few clothes (pattu-langa) that were embroidered for my friends daughters (ages 4 and 10). The benaras fabrics were from Indian Emporium (Somajiguda, Hyderabad) and Kanchi pattu from Nalli silks (Chennai).

Embellished with white and red colored stones and zardosi work, magenta benaras brocade langa (long skirt/lehenga) and pattu blouse.

Embroidered with white and blue colored stones and zardosi work, blue benaras langa.

Embroidered with white colored stones and spring work, maroon kanchi pattu langa.

Embroidered with sliver spring and kundan work, purple silk langa and blouse.

Embroidered with sequin and silver thread and kundan work, blue pattu langa and blouse.

Karigari – Vibrant Expressions

admin — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 10:23:21 +0000

A passion of mine other than food blogging, that I am pursuing is embroidery. I had done quite a bit of hand embroidery during my growing years as a hobby. Once I started working, work constraints never allowed me to pursue it seriously enough. It was after Nehal’s birth when I chose to be a full-time mother, that I had time to think about pursuing it other than food blogging, of course.:) But I never got around to doing any hand embroidery, though I have been lucky to be an integral part of the embroidery process.

Sometime during early 2006, I helped a close friend source fabrics for her commercial venture and during that period I chanced upon an excellent karigar and its a year now since he has been working on my designs, at home. Basically my family and a few close friends get our clothes hand embroidered by him. I work on the design, set the pattern on fabric, hunt and source the required materials & threads (a tough job), supervise the work closely (now you know what keeps me away from food blogging):) and the hard work is done by Riyaz.:)

Here are a few pictures of Riyaz working on Nehal’s silk kurta material (work at progress) and the tailored kurta.

I learn each day by trial and error, from choosing patterns and motifs, the color scheme, setting, using sequins, pearls, kundan stones, swarovski crystals, beads, gold, silver, copper threads etc. Below are a few photos of hand embroidered saris made in 2006 and 2007. [1. pink & purple silk (pattu) sari (2007) 2. orange & green silk sari (pallu with large peacock motif) (2006) 3. mirror work on a shaded blue gorgette (2007)]. I will share more images of the hand embroidered kurtis/salwars and saris made by Riyaz in future posts.

Suvastra has seen the light of the day due to the subtle coaxing of my blogger friend and talented artist, Shilpa, to share my creative pursuits online. Thank you, Shilpa.:)

Few of my blogger friends who have shared their artistic interests online:

Kajal – Henna
Pooja (Creative Pooja) – Mehendi
Indira (Mahanandi) – Hand Embroidery
Shammi (Food, in the Main) – Hand Embroidery
Kajal – Embroidery
Latha’s (Masala Magic) mother, Indira garu – Kasuti Embroidery
Manisha (Indian Food Rocks) – Knitting & Crochet
Shilpa (Aayis Recipes) – Oil Painting, Metal Embossing, Crochet
Shn (Kitchenmishmash)- Glass Painting
Lakshmiammal – Tanjore and Glass Painting
Nupur’s (One Hot Stove) family – Hand crafted gifts
Sree (Sree’s Canvas) – Colored Pencil Sketching
Jacob (The Painted Chef) - Sketching
Annita (My Treasure, My Pleasure) – Dry Flower Arrangement
Easy Crafts

If I have missed anyone or if you are aware of other bloggers who have shared their creative expressions online, please mention in the comments (links to the post would be appreciated) and I will update the above list. I am sure there are many of you, pursuing your creative passions and if you haven’t yet blogged about it yet, do share them.