Ode to My Fashion

Hello there! There is nothing easier to sew than a Kaftan. And you will see what I mean after you read this. I have a silk Kaftan bought from Zara hundred years ago ( ok,  maybe 12 years ago). I wore it only thrice but I love the thing. I always wanted to reproduce it with a fabric that is less difficult to handle. And I did just that last week. The Zara Kaftan was actually featured on the blog two years ago  Read about it here .  I dug out this silky green Saree fabric that I bought in Jaipur last year from my fabric "vault" . It was just about two meters. I originally wanted to make a skirt out of it. But I already have enough skirt as it is. Plus the fabric reassembled a scarf so I decided to make a Kaftan. Hemming away  I used my Zara Kaftan as a pattern.  I folded the fabric in half and ironed it flat. Then I cut it in half at the fold. I now had two pieces front and back that I hemmed. Then I put them together by stitching the top a...

If, like me you have been studying Fashion design in India,  you cannot help but admire the wide range of fabrics that exist here. India produces a lot of fabric from cotton to chiffon, some are mass produced,  others are still weaved by artisans. I have not yet discovered all the fabrics of this land. But today I wanted to talk about one that I recently discovered. It is called Khadi. Khadi fabrics I usually buy Kurtas made by this company Natraj Khadi is a hand spun or hand woven cloth primarily made out of cotton. Sometime it includes also other fabrics such as silk and wool. The fabric is very warm in Winter and cool in Summer. It is also very important to the history of India because Ghandi started wearing and promoting it to become independent from British fabrics who were then more expensive. He started a revolution movement and him and all his followers were only wearing Khadi. I was introduced to Khadi by my husband. He went fabric shopping one day ...

Hello Hello! Today's topic is this very bad habit of mine: buy now, wear later.  I absolutely love shopping. I get such a rush when I purchase new clothes or accessories even if it is for my small business or gifts. It is high I wish I could constantly get. But when I buy for myself, I have a habit of storing the clothes for later. A dress I buy now could be worn anytime between two months to two years later. With age,  I have been better at this but a quick look through my closet tells me that I have a long way to go. Yes,  I still have dresses that I bought  four years ago that I have not yet worn. Can you believe it? In fact, the only time I wore what I bought immediately was 15 years ago. I went shopping at Zara with my Mother and best friend. We were supposed to go out for diner at a fancy restaurant right after. I was not dressed for it because we were invited by other friends at the last minute. Therefore I bought myself some slacks and formal white s...

Hello there! Today I wanted to show you how I style one of my fave pants, the side stripe pants two ways. I had these pants for a while now and I cannot believe they have not made it to the blog yet.  One time I wore it back home, and my Father in law asked me if I just came back from the gym. I am still not sure if he was serious or just teasing me. Anyway, the pants are super comfy but they really can look like gym pants.  I style them like this to run errands on the week end: Denim shirt - Aeon,  Japan Pants - Max,  India Shoes - Pratunam market,  Thailand African prints bangles -  Sandaga market,  Senegal These bangles were gifted to me by a vendor in Sandaga market  after I bought a lot of stuff from his shop .  Mud on my shoes after walking under the rain   But when I wanted to look nicer for a lunch with friends, I went like that: Lace scarf - H&M Crochet shirt - D-mart Pants -...

Hello my readers!  How are you all? I am fine. It has been weeks now since I came back to Pune with the family. Coming back has not been easy. Everything was not as smooth but we are slowly settling back into our routine. I have to admit that I am a bit depressed. I am sure everyone feels the same way about going back "home" after a long vacation. But for me it is even worse because I am coming back to this gloomy Monsoon season. I have not seen the sun in days because it is always cloudy and rainy. I am not against the rain,  I understand the need for it all. Yet,  it comes with so much negative things like puddles, mud, dark days,  flood and so forth. Moreover, I cannot take my kids out to enjoy the playground or the pool. I myself have to think twice before going for a morning walk around the neighborhood. And the week ends are spent entirely inside eating or sleeping. Everything was so much better back home with the sun. In fact it was hot everyday and I reme...

Hello everyone!  I have been away from my sewing machine for weeks and I really miss it. So today I decided to go back to making clothes. I have to confess that I almost gave up after being uninspired. Thankfully I always keep pictures of all the things I plan on making always handy ( Thank you Pinterest).  I went back to it and found several pictures of skirts in Leopard print. I was torn between circle skirt and maxi pencil skirt. I dug my left over fabric from my "studio"  and found out that it was long enough for a maxi pencil skirt which would be easier to style than a short circle skirt. But at the last moment I went for a draped pencil long skirt for I am getting a tad obsessed with them (read more about it here .)  I knew that my material was not as perfect as Jersey for draping but I wanted to just try. The left over material must have been around 2 meters.  I wrapped it around my waist to see how I would drape it. I struggled with the draping a bit...