Obsessed About India, the Richest Visual Inspiration

My husband is in India right now. How I wish I could be there too. I'm missing 2 weddings and 3 cities: Chennai, Bangalore and Delhi. But a few weeks of vacation per year must be parceled out, and this late-breaking trip didn't fit. I've been to India 4 times now, and someday hope I can say there were 40 trips. 400 trips may be wishing too much, but it's not too much for me.

Some inspiration here. Some is Indian and some is more appropriately "Indian fusion" with other influences. Like the Indian-Chinese fusion restaurant we like to visit. Bring the best of both with fantastic result.

From My Measuring Tape blog:

Images from Ritu Kumar, Indian fashion designer:

How about a corset with sari trim.

I love the shape of the corset.

Could wear it with a full gauzy layered skirt.

Here I like the undergarment with the square shapes.
I imagine it as a long summer skirt with T, belt and sandals.

This could be an evening gown at a dressy event, anywhere.

Here I like the subtle pattern and colors.
I'd like a summer sweater in these patterns and colors.
Or silk tunic over flowy beige pants.

I just love the whole of this. Proportions, everything.
It would be way overwhelming on my 5' frame though.
But it gives me an idea.
I love the swish of long silk skirts. Could belt them with scarf.

Another long over long but slimmer.
Love the color combo.

Salmon, lavender and beige.
Never would have thought of it.

I like the flared tunic over leggings.

Would never wear it myself but OK to see on others.

I am a sucker for paisley. Simple as that. Beautiful paisley.

Lest the above is too much of India, here is more Ritu Kumar on the runway shown at ritukumar.com, very different style. Easily, details here could be incorporated into things we sew. Mix of fabrics, embroidery and zari, a hemline, layers:

I had the occasion once in Chennai to score a Ritu Kumar piece. But I did not bite. Next time, next time. After taking so liberally from this designer's site for our viewing pleasure, I should inform you, you can buy online. For example, the silk dress below is US$114. Oh, love ...

Check out the matching belt:

I love the mix of blue and browns. This could absolutely be worn anywhere in the U.S. without feeling a conspicuous out-of-place influence. Even to work, under a jacket or belted cardigan.

On trip #5, sometime not too far away, I will be a fierce huntress in India. Hunting for fabric. And I am hungry. Very very hungry. To find fabrics with the more subdued colors in the Ritu Kumar runway above, better for my very fair skin.

So I can create, and sew, with inspiration from India ...

Who Wants to Be WOMAN SHOPS GLOBE?

Me! Me! Me!

As a former step-grandma once asked, while riding an escalator in a huge shopping mall, "why do we have to want?"

I suppose it keeps us humans moving forward.

Right now I'm moving forward through my zip code's Comcast cable listings to find the Sundance Channel. I'm up to channel 500 and ain't found nuthin' yet! I want to watch MAN SHOPS GLOBE.

... here, it's channel 505. Which is easy to remember because one HBO channel here is 550. I miss having under 100 channels. Things were easier to find.

So back to Grandma Louise's question. Why would I want to be WOMAN SHOPS GLOBE? Isn't there enough available here? Actually right now I am tentatively planning a whirlwind 24-48 hour trip before December 31 to rack up miles to maintain elite flying status, and the trip would include some fabric shopping in a very grand bazaar. A place I've wanted to visit for so long.

Why do I have to want to go there?

While we're wanting, actually, we can overlook what we have. I have already been a WOMAN SHOPS GLOBE several times and am grateful for the amazing experiences that I never expected to have ... the aisles of the treasure-filled Chatuchak Market in Bangkok ... gorgeous vegetables, some I didn't recognize but sure tasted good, at the Saturday market in Greve-in-Chianti in Tuscany ... all the stimulating colors and fabric textures in Nalli sari shop in Chennai, India ...

Yeah, I am lucky and blessed and have lived a bit of being a woman shopping the globe. But still, I always want more. Always want more. It's not about the stuff. I actually don't buy much. It's about the sights, sounds, smells, walking in the midst of foreign languages, the challenge of figuring how to communicate and act where things are so different. I am more alive in these places.

When I buy, I buy to remember. I look about me now and see the fabrics that remind of these adventures ... the snippet of fabric covering a journal with writings about stories a driver in Cambodia told us about the Khmer Rouge, the silk throw from a nice shopkeeper in Kerala who discussed spices with us, the curtains made with fabric from ... um, actually, Arlington Heights, Illinois. But sometimes traveling 10 miles down a road around here is an adventure too!

It's important to open eyes to all adventures around us. And even if I never had the opportunity to get another stamp in my passport again, it's important to realize that sometimes, we really may have been that which we still seek.

Why Sleep When You Can Be Sewing?

With a major objective of this Taj Mahal Travel SWAP being FAST&EASY -- I sewed a travel wardrobe in under a week including an all-nighter the night before our flight -- a sure-fire bet is to pull out a pattern sewn before: McCall's 5313. Indeed I had sewn this previously during a frenzied all-nighter of vacation sewing. I figure, you can always sleep on the plane. Why sleep when you can be sewing? Here's my previous review at PR.com about McCall's 5313.

Below are garments created for the India travel SWAP -- the brown/beige pattern fabric is rayon and the black with melon flowers is lightweight polyester. The black fabric pleated nicely at the bodice seam, shown below. With both, I erred on the side of sewing a bit big, due to not having time for proper fitting. And with both, the bodice needed to be taken in. An opportunity for a button "design embellishment" on the center front on the brown/beige jumper, and with the black one, I took in the side seams.

The brown jumper is nearly ankle length and the black one is knee length.






Inside construction -- Only bodices are lined so the jumpers are super airy and light. Used french seams nearly everywhere because both fabrics frayed a lot and this made clean quick finish. I put more time into finishing the black jumper. Because the fabric has flecks of gold, I finished some inside seams with gold binding. Weird, but I know it's there and feel better about the garment. Both have center back zippers. I had to hand-sew the grosgrain ribbon straps, because I did those last so I would know how long to make them. The directions tell you to sew them into the seams, which I'd recommend rather than hand-sewing, to eliminate pulling.


A sewing assistant and I were very tired after this sewing marathon.


Love this little face! She worked really hard, pushing everything off the edge of the sewing table, and "guarding" fabric and pattern tissue. It hurt my productivity, but she sure had fun.

Taj Mahal Travel SWAP - McCall's 5617 Dress

Another dress for the Taj Mahal Travel SWAP:


Pattern Description
This was summer 2009's trendy dress, perhaps because it's super fast for manufacturing to construct? Because if it's super fast for me, it's gotta be eye-blink fast for anybody else. I sew at snail's pace. View B could be super fast for hobby sewists too. For woven or knits. Two lengths, one including a ruffled hem.

Pattern Sizing
Most sizes; my envelope is 12-18.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelop once you were done sewing with it?
Yes. I sewed view A and also cut it longer, because I am not a teenager and no longer know how to sit, exit a vehicle, and bend over in a dress so short. Then again maybe teenagers don't either.

Were the instructions easy to follow?
Very easy. No hiccups.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
I like how you could whip up a trendy dress very fast in opaque fabric using view B. My dress took awhile to construct because the batiste fabric is very light so I sewed a voile lining, and the ruffle for view B takes quite awhile to sew.

I like the slight A-line shape. I had also considered McCall's 5424 which could be converted to A-line but I was concerned that pattern would fit tighter in the hips, based on the photos and drawings. I was short on time for sewing and I needed it to fit right the first time. New Look 6700 was also a contender, but I liked the option of the ruffle hem in McCall's 5617.

Dislike -- Once I finished the dress and tried it on, I was wearing The Great Big Beige Tent. The extra fabric seemed to be in the middle, and it was not possible to take in the side seams at the bottom after the ruffle hem had been added, so I added darts in the front and back to nip it in. I topstitched the darts to make them into a design element. This pulled the dress closer to the body and maintained the loose fit it is designed to have. I also had to take in the side seams under the arms, and taper the seam out toward the ruffle hem, which I had already completed.

Fabric Used
Stretch Jacquard Stripe Shirting - Ivory/Ecru from Gorgeous Fabrics. The fabric is cool for the 105 degree plus (!) weather where I would be wearing this dress. The stripes are actually shiny gold, so I used the reverse side for the right side, where the stripes look ecru. Becuase I'm not a shiny gold kind of person for casual wear. It is lined with Bemberg voile lightweight lining in white from Gorgeous Fabrics. I am LOVING cotton voile and batistes. In double layers they feel so substantial but still very cool to wear, and very good against the skin. I worried that this fabric looks a bit like a dhoti fabric in India where I would wear the dress, especially with the gold stripes, so that was a deciding factor to use McCall's 5617 with the ruffle at the hem, which makes this obviously a woman's dress.

This dress goes well with some Grecian gold flat sandals I already owned.

This pattern would look great in a flowy border pattern silk, and that might hang closer to the body.

Pattern Alterations or any design changes you made:
I added a lining that stops above the ruffle hem. I considered laying out the ruffle on the diagonal but decided to keep a vertical flow of lines. Here's an inside view of how I finished the lining, and close-up inside view of the hem.

My labels. Wabi Sabi is perfect description for my sewing, overall.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
Yes, I already sewed it again. View B out of a striped cotton seersucker from G Street remnant table. This version also for India's super hot weather. I sewed it above knee length and on vacation wore it over Capri pants, but intend to wear it over cropped leggings at home. Added topstitched darts to the back of this version.

Taj Mahal Travel SWAP - New Look 6778 Dress

Since someone stole my camera, now's a good time to honor its service by catching up with pics & pattern reviews. Apologies for the hanger pics -- obviously I can't take pics of myself in the pieces now.

I've fallen into a rut of sewing primarily for our occasional vacations. It's fun to have new stuff for vacation, and sometimes when I buy fabrics, I see myself wearing them to certain places.

Vacation is also a great time to wear colors and patterns I wouldn't wear during regular daily life.

For our spring 2009 trip to India, I needed lightweight, easily washable clothes to pull out of the suitcase and throw on. This being my third trip there, I knew to expect no irons and expect my clothes to be treated harshly if laundered. So I chose fabrics where I wouldn't be crushed if they got faded or "unintentionally altered" to put it nicely.

New Look 6778 was the namesake dress of this travel SWAP:



Pattern Description
Simple spaghetti or ribbon strap dress. Wear alone or over a T or tank. Knee and mid-calf length. For wovens or knits. Very current gathering detail at chest.

Pattern Sizing
6-16

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?
Yes. I sewed view C to wear over a T-shirt or tank.

Were the instructions easy to follow?
Envelope says Easy, and they were indeed easy.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
I like the potential quick construction if you use a knit and no zipper. With knit fabric, it's possible to pull this on with no zipper.

I should have cut the back as one piece without the center seam and zipper. My fabric is stretchy enough to pull on without a zipper. But beyond that reason, the center seam messed up the flow of the diagonal fabric pattern. Ugh!!! I called G Street to see if they had more of this fabric and if they could ship just 1 yard or even less as emergency, but they were sold out. So I must now live with this error.

Here's why I rated this "Recommend, with Modifications" -- I dislike how the pattern calls for numerous little disjointed pieces for the bound armhole and strap. I think using self fabric for the arm binding and the spaghetti strap in two different pieces, as the directions call for, could turn out looking very homemade. For those who want binding and spaghetti strap, why not cut and apply them as one single long piece? Instead of binding the armhole, I simply turned and stitched. I used grosgrain ribbon for the strap.

Fabric Used
Polyester knit with nubby texture, but still lightweight, from G Street's Rockford store. As soon as I saw this paisley fabric, I knew it would be worn to the Taj Mahal. I tested fabric layout options in Photoshop before cutting, to visualize how the final product would look. I chose the bias layout, but that's hard to tell in the finished dress photos.


I used celadon ribbon accent from G Street notions for upper chest contrast, and to pick up on celadon color in the fabric. Instead of trying to sew two rows of straight stitching as well as risk much puckering, I used novelty stitch down the center of the ribbon.

Pattern Alterations or any design changes you made:
-- Used grosgrain ribbon for the straps instead of self-fabric.
-- Turned and stitched the armholes instead of binding.
-- Did not hem because my fabric is a knit and won't ravel, and it hangs nicely without the extra bulk of hemming.
-- I laid the pattern out so that the top edge, above the ribbon, is selvedge. The fabric's selvedge has a nice edge and I wanted to feature it.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?Yes, next time out of a woven. And, yes.

Styling note: I wore the dress with the chunky coppery chain link coin purse shown in photo. It clinked, clanged and chimed as if I were wearing a wristful of bangles.

Another Sewing Library Addition

Many of the clothes aren't my style, but I'm interested in the techniques. While I don't quilt, I would like to make a very textured comforter cover, like these from Sundance catalog:

It's hard to see unless you zoom on the original photo here, but there are rows of hand-stitching. Similarly, this is a great way to use remnants without getting into quilting with smaller pieces:



Quilts like these are shown in the Sundance catalog with this bed I posted about previously. Ten months later, I still remember this and still so want it!

Our previous comforter cover was made of silk I found at Nalli in Chennai, India. After years of sun streaming through the windows on it, the silk shredded. I may repair those sections and disguise the repairs with Alabama Stitch techniques. And then on a future trip somewhere, buy yards of cotton for a new comforter, not silk ...

Why Do We Have To Want?

Why do we have to want??? That's a question that a step-grandmother I had for a brief time asked many years ago, as we scaled the escalator overlooking the expanse of stores at one of Michigan's largest malls.

Around the same time, a roommate asked me a similar question. Why couldn't I be happy with what I had, why did I always have to want more? Huh?!? It was an odd question. Because at the time I was in the first year of starting a career, eating Campbell's tomato soup for lunch (and noting each time the price increased by a few cents), living with all hand-me-down furniture, watching a hand-me-down b&w TV with only 4 clear channels and no this wasn't 1976 this was approx 1990-1991! Why WOULDN'T someone want more?

The thing is, now I do have so much more. I've been places in the world, I have nice furniture and nice clothes and a nice house and nice gardens (average car though, don't believe in putting tons of money into a depreciating thing that rusts), I got a taste for the finest softest chevre with sauvignon blanc ... and yet, I still want more. Want to see more places, want a stone farmhouse in Tuscany where I can plant more gardens, and eat even fresher cheese and the best wine without sulfites ...

I believe this is what propels me forward through the days, even if I don't get. It keeps me moving.

Sometimes given the opportunity, I don't take advantage ... I want but I don't get. Sometimes I forget about these fleeting wants. Other times, I wake up when it's too late, and see the picture in my mind of perfectly round polished turquoise beads, mostly green-blue with delicate brown marbling, all strung into a necklance sized for a petite neck, hung in a case among a jumble of Tibetan jewelry in the visual extravaganza that is Habeeb Mullick & Son, established in 1890 in Darjeeling, India. I picture how good it would look peeking out from under a linen shirt with jeans and these shoes:

Google gives the chance to make this fading image a reality. Consider this one, from an online shop of Tibetan jewelry:

Of course I could always call the nice shopkeeper from Habeeb Mullick & Son and say, "I just want one more thing ..."

So, why are we driven to want?

India Obsessions

Soon I will be far away from the master bath fiasco, marveling at another result of natural stone. Actually, a few! Some man-made, some made by nature ... the Taj Mahal, the Himalayas ...

But for now I must sew the fun prints and dresses that I rarely wear in my everyday working woman Midwestern life. Sneak peak ...


Common threads ... paisley, flowers, beige, brown, black, gray, but with punches of color ... so I can swap the pieces of the SWAP. Pack less, more room for shopping ...

Glimpses

While we're on the topic of wood carvings, here is a plaque of the incarnations of Krishna in our second floor hallway. From one of my favorite shops in Stillwater, Minnesota -- Enigma Global Artifacts.

Glimpses ... of Sweet India Dreams

Here is a glimpse of other bedroom elements that the India bed shown below would join:

-- Kama sutra carved wooden doors from Seret & Sons in Santa Fe, once part of temple doors in India

-- Carved wooden candlesticks that were crafted as samples for our former business by a kind businessman in Delhi

-- Wallpaper of unknown origin. It isn't my head-over-heels favorite wallpaper but it would complement the bed. And having already removed wallpaper from five rooms, I know how either expensive (if someone else does it) or time-consuming (if you do it) it can be. So this wallpaper is staying for now.

Sweet India Dreams

This bed from Sundance catalog stopped my page-flipping and got the obsessive ideas flowing:

Detail:

But, oh, the description: "our bed is a faithful reproduction of one that rounded the Horn from England to India nearly a century-and-a-half ago. We discovered the original in a field in New Delhi, dismantled and all but hidden beneath a carpet of grass, and instantly fell for its elegant angles, its cast ornaments and even its weathered patina. The tall, finial-capped posts support a canopy frame that can be left unadorned or draped with panels of linen, velvet, silk or—as it no doubt would have been in mid-1800s India—a fine mist of mosquito netting."

And you just know I have linens, I have velvets, I have silks -- saris in fact -- and even I have mosquito netting to drape. It comes in non-canopy version too. And that's OK, but in the Indian night, you must have flowing silks and mosquito netting.

It would enhance our wallpaper (left over from previous owners' era) rather than fight it as the current Danish modern style bed does.

Sundance even has antique saris that could be quilted into duvet covers. But you know I could do better than this on my own, in India for real:

And check out these bedside tables from Arhaus in the "relics" category, also India-inspired:

And as I am planning our next trip to India right now, I am just in the mood for this visual obsession today ...