Friday-Free Patterns

Friday again. Time for the Free Patterns. Here they are..

The above two are folk or tribal designs from India. Motifs of trees, crops, leaves, flowers etc are quite common and popular in folk and tribal designs. These are used to decorate the mud walls.

The above can be painted or embroidered.  Stitches like Running, Chain, Lazy daisy, Satin can be used for this design. These motifs can be used on blouses, saris, bags, cushion covers, or bed linen, Kitchen linen, purses etc. A single motif or a series of motifs can be used. You can enlarge this motif or reduce the size as you like.

Hope you like them.

Friday-Free Patterns

Dancing Girls

OMG! I just forgot that I promised you something. But then what is new in that? I keep on forgetting so many things these days. Hmm with heavy work load I just don't have time to do any thing at all besides the daily routine and some of it also gets left off. So with so much pressure on me, I do tend to forget.

Any way friends I want Friday to be Free Pattern Day from now on. I will keep sharing the patterns with you.

Mind you most of these are of my own creations, inspired by the sculptures on temples, designs on Indian textiles, or on the walls of the houses or huts in the villages, tribal or folk art etc. But some of them yes I have copied or noted down the original because I liked them very much. So you will find very old, traditional Indian motifs which are as popular as they were once. They may be from folk or rural or classical ones. I will try to write about the motifs and what were my inspirations.

But I would be grateful to you , if you can send in your suggestions/comments and if you have used these motifs, a picture of them, so that all of us will have a look at how it turned up.

So here we go...

Well these are the dancing girls. Obviously these are from the tribal or folk art. These figures are painted onto the mud walls of the huts in the villages, used for decorating the walls. But these days, these are being painted on papers and also on saris, bags, fabric folders, mugs, greeting cards etc. 

I feel that these motifs can be used for painting on fabrics, either, dresses, blouses, chunaris, saris, also on cushion covers, bed linen, kitchen linen, greeting cards, on the walls etc. One can use a single motif or a pair or a series of motifs looking like a group of dancers. 

How about painting one on your wallets, hand bags or purses? 

These can be painted -just the outline with a single colour like black, red, blue or fill in the motif too with a single colour. These can also be embroidered using Running stitch, Chain Stitch, Knotted Stitches etc. 

Do you have any other ideas? Do let me know please.

Keep an eye on my blog...I may not wait till next Friday to post another free pattern....

Embroidered Butees-2

Here are some more butees:

These are Kairi (Hindi) or Mamidi Pindelu (Telugu) meaning mango fruit shaped or Paisely. You can see the green and white stone with the zari(gold) work.

This  is on velvet with zari and kundans.

Here is one more motif a slightly different one but again paisley.

These are small in size. Bigger sizes are also available. I am going to attach them to my sari. Just give me some time. Right now I am busy with so much work.

Keep an eye on my blog...I am going to post finished sari and also more embroidered patches....So what do you think?

Please leave your comments and  suggestions. I will be very happy. Also let me know what you would like me to post about.

Embroidered Butees-1

I have been posting about laces and borders that can be attached to saris, dresses, chunaris etc.  These are all the most in thing now. These days, many of the sarees, blouses, dresses like tunics(kurthas) and Pants, odhnis or chunaris etc have these borders or laces attached to them. 

I am now going to post on some Butees to. Butees or embroidered Butees pronounced as booties are embroidered motifs. 

• These are available in circular, triangular, square or other shaped patches. 
• The size also varies from very tiny ones to very huge ones. 
• Available in different colours like gold, silver, copper or antique, red, yellow, pink, blue green depending upon the colour of the silk thread or kundan or stone used.
• Gold, silver, copper threads or metallic purls, kundan stones, silk threads etc are embroidered into different shaped motifs. 
• The work used in these may be, simple, silk or gold embroidery, Zardosi, Antique work, Kundan work etc. 
• These patches are done on stiff cloth and are very easy to attach to saris, blouses, kurthas etc. All we have to do is attach them in the required manner.
• This saves lot of time and energy and we don't have to be experts of various embroideries. Moreover when embroidering directly on saris or some other clothing, even a small mistake will cost us a lot. The beauty of the entire work is lost.
• These patches of various shapes and sizes can be used for creating our own designs or motifs on the cloth.
• These patches can be attached to plain saris but these days they are being attached to even printed materials to enhance or high light their beauty.
• These look good on almost any fabrics-cottons, chiffons, crepes especially silks.
• These are available as number of pieces (bigger sized ones) and in packs of 25, 50 or 100 for smaller ones. 
• Price varies with the size and the material used in the patches. But most of them are affordable.

So  here we go....

This is a small flower. See the gold work and the green coloured stone in the center.

See how on the back side it is backed by another cloth to give it stiffness as well as  protects the stitches of the work. So it looks neat when attached to very sheer fabrics. These are available in different colours. I bought this as a pack of 50.

So what are you waiting for? Just pick up some of these. 

Keep a watch on my blog for the latest trends and fashions... I am going to post more varieties of these and also laces and borders......

Pink N Gold Sari-2

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

http://summersofindia.blogspot.com/2010/11/pink-n-gold-sari.html

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.....

Pink N Gold Sari

I promised you that I would post pictures of my sari after attaching the lace so here it is. Actually I bought a new sewing machine some time back. But with me being so busy, I just could not get acquainted with it. 

This week end since it was raining heavily, me and my mom wanted to enjoy watching some good old black and white movies. The I thought I should try some sewing too. So I got to acquaint my self with my new machine while watching two of the oldies. Well it will take me some time to get perfection, as I don't get the time to sew quite often.

Anyway here it is. 

I have one pink and gold tissue sari. To that I attached a frilled lace as edge and also stitched on an embroidered lace as border.

This is the pink and gold frilled lace matching my sari. Actually now I think I should have used a contrasting coloured lace instead.

Here I am attaching the lace to the top side (the last two meters of the sari near the pallu which shows when we wear it), on the edge of pallu and also on the other side (bottom) of the sari. I used the entire nine meters for it. 

This is a yellow green embroidered lace on maroon back ground. It also had zari (gold thread) work as well as mirror work(no the glass mirrors). I used almost most of the nine meters.

Here is a closer look.

Well I attached this lace as a border. This how it looked.

The sari looks like this.

I still have to stitch something else on it. Just wait and see I will post again. Please do let me know how it looks.

Butterfly Sampler

Day-10

Hi Friends. Sorry I could not post for two days now. Here it is.

I have used a ceramic bead-blue with gold lines for the body, twin coloured (blue-green) bead for the head and the flower sequins for the wings. I have used twin coloured (blue-peach) seed beads to tie them down

Hope you like it.

Butterfly Sampler

Day-9

Now here is Day-9. This time can you guess what these are made of?

These are made from sea shells, except for the head which I have stitched a crystal bead. I have used gold coloured thread for tacking them.

These shells are available in many shapes and sizes, some of them coloured too. Nice for stitching on saris, or dresses. But require careful washing and maintenance as they are easy to break.  

I hope you like it.

Let me know if you have any thing to say...Keep watching my blog for I am working on few saris. The moment they are finished, I will post. The works are something new and currently in fashion here....

Butterfly Sampler

Day-8

Here I am so tired after a days hard work. Returned home late and feel tired to the bones. But Still I wanted to load Day-8 of the sampler.

These are crystals. These days these are even being used as jewellery-neck pieces, ear studs, danglers, bangles etc. So these butterflies have been stitched with crystals.

So how do you like them?  More to come, keep a watch on my blog.....

Butterfly Sampler

Day-7

Its raining here since last two or three days. Sometimes heavily but mostly drizzling. I am not keeping good health-feel feverish and very lazy.  I also feel list less and don't feel like doing anything at all. So could not work on any thing much. However, this sampler is a challenge for me and I need to put my thoughts and ideas on the cloth. So here it is Day-7.

This is Antique work-Gold. The little one-I have already posted yesterday. So it needs no explanation. The flower and the bigger butterfly have been worked out in Antique Gold work (metallic). Hope you liked them.

Do leave your comments and suggestions, if any.......Keep a watch on my blog I have some surprises for you in this sampler.....

Butterfly Sampler

Day-6

After a long week end, I am back. Its quite sultry here though raining on and off. I could not do much on my sampler, as I was busy spring cleaning some of my belongings.

Day-6 of the Sampler. Here it is.

This is antique work in gold. But this is not metallic. This is made of plastic. I have glued it. I have also tacked it with stitches but could not photograph it due to some problem with my camera. Will post it shortly.

I have still work on some more for my sampler. I think I will do some more antique work. How do you like this?

Keep a watch on blog.

Butterfly Sampler

Day-5

I have posted so far with out a break for four days. It is an achievement since, I don't have much time to spare for my hobbies. So here it is Day-5.

 

Here is a little one. I have used yellow leaf like Kundan for its wings.

Here I have used green leaf shaped Kundans, for its wings.

Here I have used Paisley shaped Kundans for its wings.

Here are the Three Musketeers together. 

Actually while working with Kundans and creating a butter fly shape has been a challenge for me as I have to fit the available shapes to make it look like a butter fly. Hope you like them. 

I need to jot down all my ideas for this sampler in some note book because suddenly, ideas flash through my mind in midst of something. Let us see I will keep a journal.

Butterfly Sampler

Day-4

Today  I feel so tired after a days hard work. I also got completely drenched in the down pour and had to wait in the traffic jam for 3 hours before I could reach home. But I had to upload this. Here is one more Butterfly-Day-4. Hope you like the Kundan Work.

I think it looks more like a Dragon Fly?   Please leave your comments or suggestions.

Butterfly Sampler

Day-3

Its Day-3. Here is one more butterfly.

 

It is Kundans again. This time I have used leaf like yellow Kundans for wings. But this time I wanted my butterfly to be in some action. Its bent. I should have added a flower there. But then I thought against it. I also did not want to add its legs.

I have not stitched them yet. I have glued using fabric glue. I will secure them with thread later on.

Here is a closer look.

How do you like it?  Let me know please.

Butterfly Sampler

Day-2

My head is teaming with so many possibilities and ideas of what material to be used or what stitches to be explored and so on. I need to jot them down- but I am so lazy. This is only Day-2. Here is another butterfly. Again Acrylic kundans. Hope you like it.

I have used different shapes of Kundans. I have also used whipped stem stitch for its feelers.

I have used knot stitch for its eyes.

Hope you have liked this. More to come. Keep an eye on my blog.......

Butterfly Sampler

Day 1

Butterflies...as a child I was fascinated by them. I am still fascinated. They are colourful and when ever I see one,  I feel so happy. They bring out the child in me. So I have been doodling a lot of butterflies. Sketching, painting...but did not save any. Suddenly the other day I felt why not do a sampler on Butterflies?  I just want to see how many varieties of media, or stitches or material I can use in creating them in different shapes, sizes colours......I am not sure how many I can create. So lets us see. Shall we?

Starting from today I will post one on each day (hopefully-I cannot promise) and see how many I can create. So here it is 

These are made of acrylic and available in many colours and also sizes.

Here is a closer look. We can just glue it or attach them through the two holes provided. I have stitched them. It was difficult to photograph them as they were reflecting light.

This was Day 1......now watch my blog for Day 2....