An Indian adventure

I spent the last few weeks in India at a friends son's wedding. It was an exciting event in so many ways and India is a confronting destination in so many ways. As sewers and fabric lovers India is a paradise. I wore 3 different saris for the wedding. The fabric in saris is breathtaking, the colours and the silks and embellishments are amazing.

I felt so elegant in these saris, they certainly are a fabulous way to dress. I'm not quite sure what to do with these now but I'm sure I will use the fabric somehow
As for fabric, India is heaven for fabric lovers. There are so many places to buy fabric, its amazing.
We went to an enormous fabric store in Chennai. It was so overwhelming I didn't know where to start.

There were 2 floors the length of an enormous warehouse. Unfortunately I had to be quite restrained because I did have to carry the fabric home in a suitcase. If I went to India again I would just take an empty suitcase and fill the suitcase with all the beautiful cottons and silks. They are also quite inexpensive, another bonus.
I did purchase these lovely cottons from this store.

 Then we went to Jaipur and visited a co-op that was retraining farmers to hand print fabric. Each colour was done individually, just amazing. I bought these silk cottons that feel incredible. There was also an embroidered silk on sale, I could have gone crazy again but again I was restrained. Now of course I'm  home  I wish I had bought more fabric.

All in all an interesting trip. India is an amazing country that does present challenges. Attending an Indian wedding that went for 3 days and visiting the Taj Mahal are certainly bucket list items that are  now ticked off.

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                                        Happy Sewing!

The fabric is the winner

Happy New Year, I forgot to say this in my last post.  This post is about the fabric. I bought this fabric from Tessuti's, I bought the last piece. It is an Italian ponti, not what I would normally use for summer, however I felt a  straight skirt would show off the fabric. I dress would be lovely but a little to much pattern for me.

I just love this fabric there is so much going on. The pattern is STyle Arc Rita Ponte skirt. 
A simple straight skirt.I lengthened the pattern because I wanted almost a maxi length. I also didn't peg the sides in much because I needed to be able to walk in it.
It will be interesting when I wear this to school and what the boys response to the fabric will be, some of them will be quite intrigued. I have worn this a few times already.

I am pretty happy with this skirt. Super easy and winning fabric.

                                                  Happy Sewing !

Summer playing

So my plans for summer have finally been photographed. My navy and white striped pants and my white top.

The pants are Style Arc Tessa pant.
I actually made a wearable muslin in black linen, very unlike me, however they  turned out really well. I made an adjustment to the front for my belly. I used the Hot Patterns Tutorial for tummy adjustment and these pants fit very comfortably. There is also an excellent full tummy adjustment tutorial at The Curvy Sewing Collective website, Tummy adjustment. I think I will try this one next time. These pants are wider than I normally wear but I thought it would be nice to try something a bit different.

The fabric is a navy and white linen from Tessuti fabrics.  
I don't think there is any left online , I did buy it this fabric at the beginning of summer.. I am pretty happy with these and I have cut out another pair of pants already so this is becoming my go to pants pattern this summer.. They are so easy to sew.
 The top is Butterick 5356.
This top is out of print . I made View D and the XXL. I also added gathers at the back.

The top is quite large so I will make a smaller size next time but its fine for hot, humid days. I really like the sleeves.

The bodice is fine, if not quite as narrow as the image on the pattern. The fabric was from my stash. All in all a wearable outfit for summer. Even my daughter thought it was OK.
                                                     Happy Sewing!