Stitching is Fun !

I visited Chandni Chawk today.  My daughter as a kid always imagined that it was a place where you get your CHALK supplies for the blackboard.  Initially, even I used to find this place a bit too crowded and confusing but believe me as you get familiar, this place has a life to it. You get almost everything here to make your day. When I visited there I had little idea that I'd be sharing the experience here but it is worth sharing. When we step out of Chandni Chawk Metro station and walk past that narrow lane leading to the bustling road with activities, we just cross the road and move towards Kinari Bazaar. Kinari Bazaar is famous for Gota, Lace, fancy flowers, beads and what not to make your dress a perfect fairy godmother given types. You get almost all variety here. In the vicinity, Nai Sarak is famous for wedding shopping especially lehnga and saris. Moving a little further you visit Maliwada - a lane famous for Rajasthani ethnic saris and dresses.  While doi

Let's peek into your wardrobe...nothing to wear? Don't worry; you'r not alone. There are so many of us in this morning frustration of 'Oh, I got nothing to wear today!' Hold on. Now, let's make some place for some new and creative stuff in your almirah without making a hole in the pockets. Right? Let's go on... FIND OUT THE HIDDEN TREASURES - Empty your cupboard. Many a times we hide our clothes deep enough like a treasure when we buy our new outfits; it requires a soul, hands and cupboard stirring to find that HIDDEN treasure back. So, just empty the cupboard and find your ALL treasured dresses. Exchanging dresses with friends & relatives is sometimes an option Toss them over. Start making some new combinations. Color wise and dressing wise as well.  Donate or throw away clothes which you don't feel really happy about any longer. Chances are if you didn't wear them in last two years (though i

I know I may sound a bit depressing to for-warn you about how to open or not to open a fashion boutique. Everyone who has remote sense of clothing or even lacks the knack for it - is very much willing to open a boutique and I must say many of them are successfully running the show, challenging day-to-day hurdles very well, or so it seems. If your idea of running a boutique is a lavish opening and 'rest will take care of itself' then please think again. There are many aspects which are worth considering. Opening a boutique seems trivial but just like any other business, it helps if we make our business plan and stick to it with a little bit of flexibility.  In the name of flexibility I have seen that sometimes we are carried away very far till we find out where we are going. Two years back, I opened a boutique.I rented a shop in a busy market and invested some money taking loans from family and some from my own pocket. As I am fond of all those tit bits and designs on cloth

1.Making a Kurti / punjabi suit 2.Pre cut suit - 2 pieces one each front & back and 2 sleeves 3.Mark all pieces with X on back to identify easily 4.Also mark F (front) or B (back) to differentiate the pieces 5.Stitch the shoulders and the sides of Front & Back holding them together 6.Now, your side stitch will end at hip notch;fold the cloth from hip till bottom to make side slit 7.You may use allpins for needles to hold the cloth together and for ease of stitching 8.If you wish to hem the side slits,increase the stitch length to 5 otherwise 2.5-3 will do   9.Stitch all four sides of side slits 10.In case of shortage of cloth for sleeves, we may add cloth as side panel or joint to increase width of our sleeves;like we have done here 11.Hold all pieces together using pins 12.Now stitch the sleeves and remove the pins 13.After stitching the sleeve,turn it inside out 14.Place this sleeve inside of our armhole maki

A beautiful neck is life of a dress. It makes the dress look attractive and adds interest to the neck. Here, in order to make a designer neck, we need a strip of a design (you may have even a neck or border design cut from your old sari/skirt/dupatta or anything interesting which is in sync or in contrast to your base pattern cloth. Attach this pattern on the base cloth using pins so that your design does not change its path and shape during stitching. After fixing the design with the help of pins; get your machine ready. You may stitch with any straight stitching machine also but here I stitched with my Usha Jenome stitch magic in zig zag pattern to add up to the design. The thread may also be any contrast or the same color depending on your choice.You should be extra careful while choosing contrast colors because it needs neatness of stitching. Before starting on your main clothe, please check the thread on a strip of extra clothe to ensure stitches are upto your satis

Stitching is stylish and cool. It makes you 'independent'. Learning sewing liberates you. It can make you relieved on emergency situations. If you know even the basics, you can invent and reinvent your style and wardrobe with changing seasons without worrying about the pockets.It can be your bread and butter also if the need arises. It is the most productive,time saving, economic and money saving hobby, which none of your parents would discourage you to pursue (most of them encourage as hobby only, not as profession;though it's a full fledged money minting profession, which gives you lots of name and fame) When I was a kid, I was always in awe of my mother making those beautiful things for us on her weekends.  She had a full time career but still she used to manage time to create those lovely dresses for us on different occasions. When I grew up a bit to choose my career, my Dad insisted that Tailoring (Fashion Designing was all the same for him) was not a professi