Showing posts with label Ethnic Blouses. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ethnic Blouses. Show all posts

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Blouses in Fashion

Designer Blouses:

These days we have so many designer blouses, available in the market. They are available in small medium and large sizes. The sides are left un-stitched  so that, we can stitch according to our requirement. 

They are mostly available in Benarsi materials or brocades with embroidery or sequin work etc. Here is one that I have bought recently:
This is the back side. You can see that it is made of striped patches. See the sides have to be stitched.
This is the work it has.
Just a little work on the sleeves.
A close up of the motif worked in sequin and cut dana.

I chose the most simplest one. I don't like heavy work on my clothes, though I admire it a lot.  This can be worn with many saris of different colours-either matching or contrast.

I found it a bit loud and all glittery. But that was matching one of my saris. So I just gave in and bought it.

There are blouses with much heavy work including stones, sequins etc.

Keep a watch on my blog for more to come.....

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Pink N Gold Sari-2

My Pink N Gold Sari to which I attached an embroidered border is here.


I shopped for blouse for this sari and look what I found. It looks as if it is made for it. I don't think I could have got a better one than this.
The border I have attached has a Maroon colour (dark red) back ground with green and Zari(gold) thread work. The blouse has gold, green and red stripes which exactly match it. The cloth is Benarasi. It has a rich look which goes well with the richness of the tissue sari and its Zari border. I think its a perfect match.

Whats your opinion?

Still have some work to do on the sari. Will keep you posted. Keep watching.....

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Blouses in Fashion-Benarasi



Friends in my previous post I have talked about the Benarasi Jacquard-how it is is being used for patch/appliqué work on saris as well as for matching blouses. Apart from that women here are going in for teeming plain or even printed saris with such blouses either matching or contrasting colours. 
Here I found a perfect match for one of my saris. 
This is the light blue coloured sari with dark blue border. The sari is made of fine cotton and is from Bengal. The border also has zari(gold thread). It has dark blue butis with thread on pallu and all over the sari. Above is the pallu.
Here you can see the sari with border at the bottom side.
It has border on both sides-top and bottom.
This is the Benarasi jacquard blouse I purchased-ready made. I just loved the combination of light and dark blue perfectly matching my sari. I also love the paisley design
So here is the sari with the blouse. Something bright and different. One can change the look of sari with a different blouse. instead of plain cotton blouse of dark or light blue colour, I went for this. Isn't it looking beautiful?

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Blouses In Fashion-Latest


Friends I was busy shopping for some clothes and dress materials along with embroidery materials beads etc. Well I have purchased some blouses for my saris. You know though I stitch them myself,  sometimes I am tempted to go in for ready made blouses too. It saves time and energy for me as they are ready to wear. 


These days we have so many varieties of blouses-cotton, silk, plain, simple, embroidered and so on. Ethnic blouses are always a rage. These days  kalamkari, batik, bandhni, blouses embroidered with zari, silk threads, zardosi, kundans etc are in fasion. Mostly these blouses are just stitched with wide margins and available in small, medium and large sizes. We can alter them to our measurements quite easily, if we have a sewing machine at home. 

Ok now for the latest trends in ethnic blouses for saris-- These days Benarasi jacquard material is being used for making blouses. these blouses are worn either in matching colours or in contrasting colours. The fabric can also be multicoloured which can be worn with many saris. people are going in for contrast coloured blouses than matching ones. The fabric is attached to the sari as  border and also as patches of different shapes. Further, These patches are embellished with kundans or coloured stones, antique beads or coins etc. 


I have stitched border cut from of bluish green Benarasi jacquard fabric to my pinkish red sari. The colour of the sari in this photograph is looking different from what it actually is. I could not get the original colour in spite of trying hard, I kept the border small and also kept it simple so that it can be worn to work place. I  wanted to add kundans but in the end did not as I wanted to keep it very simple. 
 I stitched the border at both edges of the sari-top and bottom and the edge of pallu also.
The blouse is also stitched from the same fabric but simple. It has got sleeves (normal length)which are not visible in the picture.
It would have looked grand had I added some kundans and zardosi. But I preferred a simple one which is easy to manage and also can be worn to work place.


Your comments and suggestions are always welcome. Do let me know please. Keep a watch on my blog as I am going to post more.......

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Silk Blouse Pieces

Hi friends. This is the auspicious month of Sravana according to our Hindu calendar. It is monsoon time with steady drizzles to heavy downpours. Mother Nature revives herself from the hot summers. The climate is cool may be sultry sometimes. But the fresh greenery on the trees, green fields, colourful flowers, cool breeze, butterflies flying around, buzzing bees...in general, nature and all living being recover from the heat and dust and rejoice. The lakes and rivers are full with water. we have lilies and lotuses dancing in the waters. Hibiscuses, roses, chrysanthemums, some varieties of jasmines and so many other flowers. All in all it is pleasant and colourful.

This month is very important for us women and meant exclusively for women as we offer Pooja-special prayers to Goddess Vara Lakshmi on Fridays and Goddess Mangala Gauri on Tuesdays. This is for general well being of the family, prosperity and happiness. These are exclusively ladies only functions. 

We also give and receive  gifts like saris, blouse pieces, kumkum bharina-boxes for storing vermilion etc, bangles, small looking glasses, combs, turmeric, vermilion,sandal wood powder, sweets, beetle leaves and areca nuts (known as nut powder), soaked chickpeas and fruits etc.. to our near and dear ones(unmarried and married women) like sisters, sis-in-laws, mothers, ma-in-laws, other women friends, relatives and neighbours depending upon our budget. This is exclusively a Ladies only function.

I remember as children and young women me and my cousins used to go to our neighbours and relatives houses to attend these functions along with our grandmothers, mother and aunts. Though these are religious functions women are women. Each one would be assessing the others dress and jewellery. They would talk about the colour combination of the silk and brocade saris worn by them, how much it cost them (most of the time exaggerating the price..:) :)  ), their jewellery, how they got it made, and other gossips about their in laws, children and life in general. 

Married women visit their mothers during this period to offer this Pooja. So its quite natural that they like to catch up on every thing they left behind. We children were interested in only the sweets and savouries and fruits mostly bananas given to us and play with other children till it was time to go. We used to collect all the soaked chickpeas given to us by others as well as those left in the house after giving it our visitors and loved the spicy hot snacks made out of them by my granny. 

I miss all those lovely moments enjoyed in a small villages or towns where every one knew every one else. There was a bonding even with our neighbours sharing joys, happiness and helping in difficult times.  Even after shifting to cities due to our jobs or education, this trend continued till last decade or so . But celebrating in a city is much different from that in our little places. Now of course with the family members and relatives scattered in far off places, we have lost the charm of celebrations. It rather makes us reminisce beautiful moments we shared in the past.

Any way  coming to the point......

It is considered as auspicious to buy something new especially gold, silver, copper etc along with new clothes for ladies and girl children. We prefer to buy or rather invest in silks and brocades as this month and in coming months it is season for marriages and other auspicious occasions like construction of new houses, house warming ceremonies starting new ventures etc. 

So we women and girls do shop for cloths, jewellery etc. Here I went with my sis and some friends bought some of these.... Silk from Assam. But before that a brief intro on silk from Assam...


Assam is North East Indian State. The North East is known for its beautiful silk textiles. Three types of silks are produced depending upon the silk worms and the leaves they feed on- as we know that silk yarn is extracted from the cocoons spun by the silk worms.

  • Muga silk
  • Pat silk
  • Eri silk
Muga Silk:  is the most popular silk from Assam /North east. Its natural golden colour is the reason for its popularity. Assam is the largest or perhaps only producer along with North Eastern States of India. That is because the silk worm Antheraea assamensis that produces this silk are found in that state and can only live in the climatic conditions of Assam or surrounding areas. They feed on the leaves of Som and Sualu trees native to that region. Since the silk has very low porosity, it cannot be bleached or dyed but left as it is to retain its golden colour.  It can be washed and with every wash its natural sheen increases.

Pat Silk: This is also known as Mulberry silk as the worms that produce are fed mulberry leaves. The colour of this silk varies from brilliant white to off-white. This is also one of the popular silks.

Eri silk: also known as Endi or Errandi silk. This is produced by the worms- Samia cynthia ricini which feed on leaves of Castor oil plant. Unlike in other silks where the cocoons are put in boiling water to kill the pupae, this silk is produced after  the pupae  develop into adults and leave the cocoons. The open ended cocoons are used for extracting the silk. That is why this is popularly known as non-violent silk. This silk is soft and warm and is is used in  shawls and quilts. 
Not only that, since it is non violent silk, it is used in manufacturing of cloth offered to Gods and Goddesses of the Temples or used for religious purposes and also puritans who follow Hinduism strictly prefer this silk as it is non violent.

This is the most famous or popular Golden silk known as Muga silk from Assam. These are blouse pieces-un stitched.
See the natural gold colour- unbleached  and non dyed.
I bought one with red border. the borders have been stitched on the cloth not woven into it. But they are hand woven.
These are the ones with a green border- two different designs.
Take a look.
See the beautiful hand woven borders attached. they can be used on the back side bottom of the blouse and also on sleeves....
One more design of the border.
A closure look at the motifs.
Aren't they beautiful. I bought three pieces one for me, my sis and mother....and that too at a very cheap price.  They were also selling these borders separately for blouses but I dint buy them.


I think these blouses will go well with raw silk or Tussar silk saris and in general with off white or gold coloured silk saris. Any way it is fashion now a days to wear contrast coloured blouses.

I will post the blouses after I stitch them. For more on the silks from Assam here is one link.

http://assamsilk.blogspot.com/


So friends hope you like them... I am going to post some more tomorrow.. So brace yourself....Its a surprise....

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Blouses-Kalamkari N Jaipur Print

Friends here is one more blouse. This is a combination of patch work of Jaipur print and Kalamkari, with some sequins work . These blouses are still in fashion and are a huge hit. Being multi coloured they can be worn with many contrasting or similar coloured saris. These can be worn with plain or printed saris too. Though the blouses are stitched, they have to be fitted to individual requirements.

Here it is

This is the front side. Front open. See the combination of patches and the sequin work is not too much just highlighting the design.
This the back side.
See the patch at the back
This is the sleeve.
A closure look at the sleeve and look at the Kalamkari print.

I have some more but don't have the time to photograph them. I will post more next time.

Monday, March 15, 2010

Blouses In Fashion-Crocheted Blouse

Friends I have been out of touch with the happenings in fashion arena for some time now with me so busy with my work. But when I went around for shopping, I was amazed to see so many new designs and patterns especially in saris and  blouses. Here is one of them - a sari blouse-crocheted. The colour is showing as gray instead of light lavender shade. I just could not get it right. The thread used for this seems to be having a silvery sheen. Even the buttons have been covered with thread. There were only few colours, like the shocking pink, black, apple green, light blue and lavender all shot with silver metallic sheen. All of them looked like pearl shades with the silvery sheen.
Here is how it looks-so simple.
This is the scalloped neck on the front side.
This is front opening with the buttons too covered with the yarn used for crocheting.
This is the view of the neck on the back side.
This is the sleeve. Note the edges.
This is the bottom of the blouse. Those who can crochet can make this. It has been made in parts-two for the front one for the back and the sleeves and then attached with stitching. Hope you have liked this.