Work In Progress On Wednesday - Kutchwork on a Kurta

My work in progress series is stepping to third week. I started this with the post of Dress design .
This week sharing about the Kutchwork on a Kurta. I have shared How to trace design on stitched Kurta in my previous post. On the same Kurta I am starting to embroider Kutch work design.
Here is the Kurta with design traced on it:

The design traced

There are some mistakes, I can correct those as it is a geometrical design. The Kurta is in wine color, choosing between pink and light purple for the embroidery. Normally Kutch work looks good with bright color, hope this color look good because of the combination.

The threads selected- Which is better?

The last week's Work in Progress- Kerala Mural on Bamboo , is done.
Last week's work:

Kerala Mural on Bamboo

Here is the completed work:

Kerala Mural on Bamboo

A closer view:

Closer view of Kerala Mural on bamboo

I have completed a Kerala Mural on canvas too. Will share in the coming post.

Until then,

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana

How to transfer design on stitched dress-Tutorial

This is the query I often get from most my readers. For embroidery projects, transferring the design on fabric is the tedious task. One method is to use charcoal powder. Another is using white carbon paper. Though this method is easy, but for large designs,even this is time consuming.

Whatever the technique we use, transferring design on stitched garment is quite difficult , especially around neck area.

How to transfer the design:

My suggestion for embroidery on stitched fabric, avoid large or complex  designs.

This is the stitched salwar top I selected for embroidery:

The stitched dress I chose

I chose , simple Kutchwork design . I have these two designs in Kutchwark. Kutchwork designs are geometrical, something goes wrong with the design, that can be corrected. Both the designs I have are similar , I chose the first one:

Kutch design sheet

Place a book below the fabric where the design to be transferred.

Keep a book for support

 Now , place the carbon and the design , trace with a pencil or pen. Here is the design transferred on the fabric. There are some mistakes, which I can correct.

Kutchwork design transferred

Hope to complete the embroidery on this dress. I was away from hand embroidery for few months. Starting it again with this Kutch embroidery. You can view other Kutch embroidery I had worked earlier , shared in this post: Kutchwork on Salwar Top .

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana

Kutchwork on Salwar Top

I had been to Belgaum(a city in Karnataka), in 2009. This is the place,where I studied, stayed  for four years. This city brings me lots of memories-good, bad and ugly.....Sometimes I feel there shall be some technique to wipe out memories, whichever we don't want.... :-).Not possible:-( Right?  Leave it.....
When I had been to Belgaum , I had bought this salwar suit. (Got it stitched, long back. It was waiting for its turn to get embroidered. At last its turn came :-) )

This is plain salwar , so thought of embroidering. First thought to use combination of tatted motifs and hand embroidery. Somehow didn't like, so dropped the idea. Went ahead with Kutch work embroidery. I love Kutchwork embroidery , as it is colorful.
Kutchwork is form of embroidery, which is practised in Kutch region ( Gujarat,India). Mainly consists of interlacing stitch and mirror work. While collecting information about this embroidery, I found its very similar to Armenian embroidery ( Armenia is a country, near Turkey). Very interesting, isn't it?
I embroidered border and motifs, with Black and White colored threads
Here it is:


Closer view of the border



And the motifs:

 

With the Duppatta and the bottom , the final look of the Salwar:

Hope I have made the right choice by selecting Kutchwork for this Salwar. What do you say?

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana