Nakkashi Euphoria 11042 anarkali & co

And now for a change of pace, let’s finally catch up with a project finished last year, but was waiting for the matching slim trousers which I just finished… This is the Indian anarkali tunic outfit kit I bought last year:

Nakkashi Euphoria 11042

fabric for Churidar trousers + part-stitched Anarkali tunic + RTW Dupatta shawl

1. Anarkali Tunic ⇒ Shirt Dress / Light Flared Coat ✔

Style Shots & Mug Shots

WORN WITH: 1 Self-drafted slim pants + Nakkashi dupatta shawl 2 Self-drafted tent dress;

Fabrics:

  • Loose weave Khadi shell fabric – this looks really similar to the raw silk gauze I used for Burda 2014-02-117 top (another one waiting to be blogged)
  • Poplin / Batiste lining

Design:

Originally I was going to leave this quite loose & robey as it vaguely reminds me of dreamy Pre-Rarobes. But Ms Practicality vetoed that idea. And I went back to something more like the original intended design. Ms Practicality also insisted that I make this tunic open front to maximise wearing opportunities. (Though in retrospect, the flared shape doesn’t really lend itself to being worn with front opened.)

Fitting:

  • Examining the marketing photo I saw that armhole bust darts were added to give the tunic a fitted silhouette. I followed suit & modified my Fitted Top Block to shift some of the bust shaping into a new armhole bust dart.
  • The bodice did not quite fit into the panels neatly. To minimize the number of vertical seams, I ended up removed the equivalent of one panel – front outer panel – at the side seam & kept the corresponding back outer panel for the underarm area – ie no proper side seams… kind of like in some tailored jackets.
  • Additional dart shaping (bust, waist, shoulder blade) were done at the existing panel seams with varied seam allowance widths.
  • For sleeves I used my more mobile Tunic Sleeve Block.
  • Hem were shorten for my less than modelesque stature (yielding scraps to squeeze out #2 Peplum Top below).

Construction:

Ms OCD demanded that I redo the collar, chest appliqué, hem border, and lining “properly” the Western way. So…

  • Collar & front opening were properly interfaced.
  • Chest appliqué reapplied incorporating bust shaping.
  • Hem border reapplied after everything else was done (saving me a chunk to squeeze out #3 Bustier Top below).
  • Lining flipped to hide the seam allowance the Western way. (So far I find that the Asian garments seems to favour exposed seam allowances even when the garment is lined. Someone told me it’s to facilitate alteration in case one gains weight. It’s less pretty in side, but certainly quicker to let out or take in. I guess I better not grow sideway any further now that I’ve hidden all the seams!)
  • Hooks & thread bars were used for front closure to minimize visual disruption to the design whether worn open or closed.

Now can I just moan about hooks a bit? I thought all hooks are equal. Apparently not. I bought a bunch of Hemline hook & eye fasteners that you’d find in all the sewing shops here in the UK. Trusted brand right? Nope. Total fail. They won’t stay closed, because the bump at the base of the hook is too shallow to properly do its job of stopping the thread bar or eye from slipping off. Maybe if the garment has negative ease – eg in a bra band or bustier – then this won’t be a problem as the busting tension would stop the hook & bar/eye from moving about. But given the positive ease in my tunic, it’s wardrobe malfunction waiting to happen. Actually the hooks I recycled from old Victoria Secrets bras for my choli blouses also have the same problem of wanting to come undone. I only properly understood the problem when I examined a couple of custom made choli blouses I ordered from India: These have hooks with prominent bumps & are properly secure once done up. Annoyingly online shops don’t show profile photos of hooks they sell, so it’s impossible to tell which brand has the secure hook design with a proper gate-keeper bump.

1a. Anarkali Tunic scraps ⇒ Peplum Top

I wish I had scraps bigged enough to make Burda 2014-03-118 Square Neck Peasant Top. I didn’t. So I tried draping the scraps on Q to see if there’s even enough to cover Q’s modesty. Thankfully I did. This peplum top design is the result. The front, peplum, & back for each (L/R) half is one continuous piece of the excess length panelled hem from the tunic. The bodice sides & straps are from the tunic’s two excess front outer panels (minus length used for the shirt dress front opening facing).

As the fabric is loose woven & seemingly delicate, I will need to line the top. The lining scraps are not big enough, so a batiste from the Stash will have to be pressed into service.

While the neck opening is big enough to slip over my head, I want the waist to remain trim, so some sort of opening must be incorporated to make it possible to put on/take off the top. Back overlap with buttons perhaps?

Now I just need to figure out the construction… one day some day!

1b. Anarkali Tunic scraps ⇒ Bustier Top

The scrap hem border from the tunic just barely goes around my torso. As the embellishment is so lovely, it seems a shame to throw it away. Taking inspiration from a Dolce & Gabbana editorial & a Alexander McQueen F/W 2008 designs, I think I will turn this into a bustier. To bridge the gap in girth I’m going for a contrasting deconstructed aesthetic of exposed zipper, braided elastic, or hook & eye tape. To maximize wearability, I may add sleeves & peplum – or maybe make this a separate top to be worn under the bustier. I have nothing as fancy as McQueen’s silk tulle, so instead I’m going to use a plentiful cheap gauze from the Stash (formerly window drapes). Haven’t quite work out the pattern yet let alone construction. So yet another project joining the long queue.

2. Churidar Trousers ⇒ Slim Pants

Since the fabric is a stiff Jacquard, the usual Asian instructions for a drapier Churidar Trousers won’t work. So as you already know I turned this into a Western style slim trousers, doubling as wearable muslin for my new Slim Pants / Trousers Block to statisfy Ms Two-Bird-One-Stone.

2a. Churidar Trousers scraps ⇒ TBD

There’s enough fabric for something else… Something I haven’t yet decided, but probably a dress or a-line skirt because this stiff fabrc with no give needs plenty of ventilation.

3. Dupatta Shawl ⇒ TBD

This was readymade. But the rose coloured fabric is rather scratchy. So I initially added a dual-tone chiffon lining. But then it doesn’t drape as well anymore. So off the lining comes.

I think I will have to make this into something I may wear more often. I have way too many dupatta shawls for my Western lifestyle!

Bridezilla Odyssey – part 2 – Bra-Gate

Well Hello there! No, I’m quite a ‘Mrs’ yet. (What’s the feminist equivalent of a ‘Mrs’ to call the husband?) But the Bridezilla sewing is finally done. The final mile was excruciatingly slow even though it was simplest part of the Choli Blouse making. I must have left my Sewing Mojo with the relatives when I visited in July. Yes, I took my sewing on ‘holiday’ with me & promptly ignored all the relations who I meant to visit. The embroidery was finished at the eleventh hour just before we flew back to the UK. But making up the blouse took forever! Serves me right I guess for being rude to my hosts.

As for Blogging Mojo, that was lost long ago in the flurries of ideas & activities – too many & too fast to capture in words. So I will just outline the major incidents. Let’s start with Bra-Gate.

  1. I picked the outfit which was a copy. But while the skirt & shawl look exactly like the original, the blouse material doesn’t. I wanted a blouse more like the original. So I decided to make it from scratch.
  2. After searching all of London for supplies to little avail, & considering the amount of embroidery required, I had little faith I could manage this Plan A blouse in time. So I decided I need a Plan B.
  3. Plan B was to make up the pre-embroidered blouse fabric from one of the other two outfits. But there was a snag.
  4. This pre-embroidered blouse design has an very open back. I just could not find a bra that would stay hidden while still give me the gravity-defying lift I had hope to achieve. Let’s look at the typical open back bra options shall we?
    1. Built-in cups

      The standard choli solution. But with typical wearing ease built in, I don’t see how this will add any bust enhancement support. At best it just preserves modesty…Unless the top is made skin-tight from stretchy material. But mine is normal woven silk with no stretch.
    2. Stick-on bras

      Again, doesn’t seem like it’ll give enough bust enhancement support. Plus I’d be worried about it coming unstuck. One too many things to worry about on one’s big day!
    3. Low-back bra extenders

      This is the long add-on elastic that pulls down the back closure by extending your band so that it wraps around your front below the bust. Unfortunately these all seem to extend too far down (to the waist in the front at least) to work with cropped Choli Blouses.
    4. Totally backless bra (& Threads version)

      Backless bust support solution featured in "Build a Better Bust" from Threads Apr/May 2006

      Backless bust support solution featured in “Build a Better Bust” from Threads Apr/May 2006

      These seems perfect – if they stay on. I’d be worried that the straps would slip off easily & the cups won’t stay put. But I thought it has potential if tweaked:

      My open back Choli bra idea

      My open back Choli bra idea

      • Add below bust elastic band to help keep bra cups close to the body.
        Unlike hip young Asians, I’m never going to wear totally backless or stringy back-closure cholis. I just need a band & straps that accommodate a low & open back cropped top.
      • Add boned side panels to help keep bra straps from slipping off the shoulder.
        Not entirely sure this would actually work. But I think it looks more stable than having the elastic shoulder straps going around the arm joint & rejoining the cups at the side bottoms.
  5. I lost my mind & set about implementing my wholly untested custom open-back bra idea. Keep in mind that I have not even learn to make a bog-standard bra & I have only a few weeks left (to make Plan A blouse + Plan B blouse + this untested bra solution). I went as far as ordering bra material from Canadian Bra-maker Supply (and paid dearly for it – thank you UK customs & postal system).
    0-bust support-braSupply
  6. Luckily (!!!) Brexit threat devalued the pound sterling & delayed further investments such as Beverly Johnson’s hand-holding bra-making classes on Craftsy. This gave me just enough time to come to my senses & abandon Plan B along with my mad scientist open-back bra idea…for now anyway. As bra-making supply has already been bought no doubt I will return to my mad idea one day…Maybe when the pound sterling recover its value & I could afford to pay for the Craftsy classes? Any chance of that you think? 😉

Bridezilla Odyssey – part 1 – lehenga shop reviews

Getting back to Bridezilla sewing now…

These goodies arrived 2-3 weeks ago and I’ve been frantically planning my outfit and any sewing that needs to be done. First, some reviews of my shopping experience in case anyone else is interested in ordering from these online Indian shops. Some observations that apply to all shops…

These choli blouse + lehenga skirt + dupatta shawl designs frequently come as unstitched blouse fabric + partially stitched skirt (with one seam left to do so that it can be sewn up to your size) + fully stitched shawl. Some shops offer stitching services for the blouse and the skirt. But of course I prefer to do the sewing myself to ensure a good fit & stitching quality that I’d be happy with. Even for those who don’t sew, I’d recommend have them made up locally so the tailor can ensure a better fit. Us sewers know how the same measurements alone don’t guarantee a good fit as the body shape may be different – eg wide all around at the bust or a big bust on a small frame with narrower than expected back! Plus if you’re employing a local tailor you might be able to see example of their work before committing to their service, so you can be more confident the stitch quality is satisfactory.

The other reason to order unstitched version is that the items may arrive faster. If the shop have to stitch them up for you, not only do you have to factor in stitching time, at busy time of the year there may also be a queue. The seller will of course try to keep you sweet pre-sale, but after your order has been placed, you might have to chase them for status updates if your items is in the queue to be made up.

Having said that, not all designs lend themselves to this option. Sometimes the embellishment is very specific to the shape, size & fit of the garment. The pattern pieces need to be determined before the embellishment can be customised to fit. These probably will be the more expensive designs, like a few hundreds pounds to over £1000. All three that I ordered were just over £100 each.

As for fabric quality, it can be hard to be sure you’re getting real natural fiber like silk. Sometimes the shops will label something as “Art”, short for “artificial” or “faux”. But in general there doesn’t seem to be a clear distinction between type of fabric vs type of fibre used in the fabric. This applies not just to online shops. When I checked out a few brick-n-mortars in London, they also didn’t know there are “silk georgette” vs “polyester georgette”. The ones that make a point of sourcing natural fibre will probably shout about it & reflect that in their site menu categories. But in general, I think it’s best to assume man-made fibre. Then you may be pleasantly surprised if it turns out to be natural fibre if that is important to you! I haven’t done burn tests on the one I got. So I’m assuming man-made, especially with all the affordable bling!

Haya Creations
Indian/Asian outfit online shop

www.hayacreations.com

lehenga_nakkashi-haya-1I fell in love with these two Nakkashi designs and found Haya Creations which seems to sell the originals. Some shops show you photos of the original designs, but don’t mention the designers. So there’s no way to tell if they are selling the originals or copies, and more importantly, if copies whether they’ll look anything like the originals. Haya Creations does mention the brand name & the brand style number. Thankfully what I received also has the brand’s packaging.

Ordering process:

  • Haya Creations doesn’t seem to offer stitching service, which of course is fine by me.
  • I choose PayPal as payment option, but it isn’t entirely integrated into the checkout process. I received an email after placing the order with a link to PayPal to complete the payment. So don’t panic if this happen to you. Just wait for the email.
  • I ordered on a Friday (London time) & package was sent the following Tuesday. I would have received the package on the Thursday, but there was miscommunication about the delivery address. Haya called me long-distance (via WhatsAapp) the following Monday & gave me the tracking number & contact number for the courier (UK Mail). The package was delivered the following day. All in all it took just over a week from India to UK.
  • I was also expecting to have to pay import taxes, but I wasn’t charged any for my total purchase of just over £200.

Nakkashi Indian/Asian outfit designer & manufacturer

Now the Nakkashi designs themselves…I originally wanted to buy directly from Nakkashi’s online shop. But their PayPal payment option wasn’t set up properly. So I couldn’t complete the purchase on their eshop.

I think both lehengas may be relatively “mass-produced” rather than made to order or made as an one-off as some Indian/Asian outfits can be. Maybe that’s why both came with all three elements – blouse material, skirt, shawl – stitched / tacked together (see photos below). Perhaps this ensures each package has all the bits that its suppose to have. It is a bit of a hassle though to have to unpick these temporary seams before I can start sewing. I’d much rather the bits come as a loose kit – like bra kits do. But the designs are fabulous. For me to have to source all the bits & do the embellishment myself would be just as much hassle if not more.

In terms of quality, I’m assuming these are man-made fibers. Thankfully most of the fabrics don’t feel very plasticky. And while the skirt & shawl stitchings are not perfect, they don’t affect how the outfits look. So I’d say the marketing photos are fairly accurate. And given the affordable price I think they’re good value for money.

Nakkashi Royal Prestige 5033
unstitched choli blouse + part-stitched lehenga skirt + finished dupatta shawl

The colour for this one turned out darker than in the photos, a brownish flesh tone rather than antique gold. But it’s still nice. The only complaint I have is that the panel skirt doesn’t have an extra lining to protect the sequin stitching, so one might snag on the sequin threads. The skirt has a layer of soft netting on top of the sequined chiffon fabric. So I’m assuming the top is meant to have the same order of layering. The shaped trims for the front & back neckline is basted to the soft netting, and the straight trims for the hems also basted to the edges of the blouse fabric. The marketing photo doesn’t show the back, but the top has a deep U back that’s not too open. So this one should be OK to wear with normal bras. The shawl is shimmery chiffon. The floral trims on the skirt & shawl are velvet with metallic embroidery. The stitching on this one is OK.

Nakkashi Royal Prestige 5036
unstitched choli blouse + part-stitched lehenga skirt + finished dupatta shawl

The colour on this one is spot on. The panel skirt embellishment is on the top layer soft netting. So the threads in the back is protected by the orange lining / underlay. The shawl is chiffon with sewn on sequins. Both again have velvet trims with floral metallic embroidery. The stitching on this one is slightly twisted in places, but isn’t bad enough to show up in photos. So only perfectionist need to have these fixed! The blouse is dupion with sequin & metallic thread embroidery. Again, the marketing photos didn’t show the back. I scratched my head a bit when I first saw the shape of the embroidery, trying to figure out how it’s suppose to look. I think it’s meant to have a triangular cutout with neckline & below bust centre back closure. The cutout looks fairly large. So it’ll be hard to find a bra to wear with this if one needs proper bust support. Even the normal low-back bra extender won’t help as the top is cropped, so the extender looping at waist level will peep out.

Samyakk
Indian/Asian outfit shop

www.samyakk.com

lehenga_gajiwala-samyakk-1

I fell in love with a Gajiwara design and found Samyakk which sells something similar. Again, unlike other shops which show you designer photos then sell you a copy that may or may not look like the original, Samyakk shows you exactly what you’ll be getting. But you do have to look through all the photos on the product detail page, because sometimes the blouse fabric is not the same as the generic one shown on the mannequin. Where it’s different they do include a photo of the actual blouse fabric. But because the image menu only shows 3 thumbnails at a time, you have to use the arrow links to browse through all the product photos.

Ordering process:

  • Samyakk does offer blouse stitching service, but of course I didn’t opt for this, so can’t really comment on how this work or quality of this service.
  • I choose PayPal as payment option & this went through during check-out as expected.
  • I ordered on a Friday (London time) & package arrived the following Tuesday via DHL. All in all it took less than a week from India to UK. If you requested stitching service it’ll take longer. Presumably how long will depend on how busy it gets – there may be a queue in addition to time required for stitching. So plan ahead!
  • I was again expecting to have to pay import taxes, but I wasn’t charged any for my total purchase of just over £100.

Samyakk GC755
unstitched choli blouse + part-stitched lehenga skirt + finished dupatta shawl

This is similar to Gajiwara GS7384 lehenga choli (the first photo above), but with blouse fabric that’s the same as the skirt rather than a different but coordinating design. Also the Samyakk skirt is a panel skirt that’s fitted through the hip, whereas the Gajiwara skirt looks like it may be variations of the circle skirt, or at least panels that flares out higher up. I had wanted to get the Gajiwara version, but I couldn’t find a shop that can confirm they sell the original. And when I asked Gajiwara on Facebook, their response came too late – after I’ve already placed an order with Samyakk. Also they wanted me to call them long-distance & I felt uncomfortable with that, especially since I’m not sure if they would speak fluent English.

So the Samyakk version…This seems to be an one-off design. It’s no longer available on their eshop. The 3 elements are not stitched / tacked to each other. The stitching is better than the Nakkashi ones. But there are still stray threads, which is understandable on these easily snagged embroidered fabrics. Again I’m assuming man-made fibres. The blouse material is just a piece of metallic embroidered net + two-sided metallic fabric + metallic ribbon trim. The shawl is soft net with glued rhinestones with metallic ribbon & leave pattern trims. Now the skirt, this one is more elaborate than the Nakkashi skirts. At the hem it actually has 4 layers – metallic embroidered net + two-sided metallic fabric + stiff netting + lining. The netting is stitched to the lining which also has wide stiff fused interfacing. The whole thing is quite bulky & heavy! No wonder this outfit came in a big box and a clear zipper storage bag. The skirt also has the metallic ribbon & leave pattern trims. The hem on this & the shawl also have mini metallic ball edgings…which I’ve already stepped on & broke a few! I guess they must be gold painted plastic. Oops. The skirt comes with a waist tie in a lovely loosely knitted metallic cord with gold coloured (possibly plastic) latkan tassles.

The verdicts

I love all three garments / fabrics, despite the possibly man-made fibre content & less than perfect stitching. They’re lovely designs. I did try sourcing material from scratch. But it was so much effort, time, cost, & I couldn’t even find anything that looked similar never mind better quality fabric.

None of them when you break them down into their component fabrics & trims are too fancy to repurpose for less-than-special wear. So for a bit over £300, I’ll definitely get more value out of these than from a white poofy number. And they all feel more special than just a “nice dress” for such a special occasion!

In fact, I’m already tempted to buy more… 😈

Lehenga Choli fantasy sewing

I crumbled. I was all psyched up to sew my own wedding lehenga choli (Indian/Asian skirt + cropped top). I even planned in my head how I was going to sew them up:

  • Micheal-Kors-FW2012-ad-1Half-circle lehenga skirt to preserve as large a piece as possible for future refashioning into a Michael Kor style gold lace skirt. Most lehenga seems to be umbrella/panel/gore skirts, but there were some mention of circle skirt variations as well.
  • Skirt hem border built up from skinner trims to help distribute the inevitable easing required to attach straight trims to curved hem. The home-sewn lehenga YouTube videos I saw seem to just pleat in the ease as they sew. If the trim is wide then the difference between top & bottom circumferences needed would be great & the pleating would be more visible. If the trim is narrower, then the difference between top & bottom would be smaller, so it might even be possible to ease the difference rather than pleat it.
  • Sewn on stones/sequins on dupatta shawl made from red silk geogette from the Stash rather than glued on stones. Again, YouTube videos seem to show a lot of gluing. Don’t know if it’s just the DIY crowd who rely on glue or if RTW also rely on glue, but I’d be worried about stones/sequins falling off.
  • Silk shantung or dupioni for skirt lining & as blouse base fabric.
  • Zardozi and stone/sequin embroidery to mimick the original blouse embellishment.

But fabric & trim sourcing tripped me up…because I was too stuck on that one particular design I showed you in the previous post. I found an online shop (Samyakk) that has a very similar design at a reasonable price. They also showed close-up photos of the fabrics & trims they used. I was in love.

I tried Google image search to help me source similar fabric. Google thought the fabric pictures were of dirt! LOL. Anyway, I couldn’t find anything similar online. I’ve even checked Mood and B&J Fabrics. I also took the pictures with me to various London fabric shop areas – Walthamstow, Goldhawk, Wentworth/Bricklane, Green St, even Southall! No one has anything like it. (OK, I didn’t bother with the Berwick Street fancy fabric shops because I knew their prices would be astronomical.) Funny thing is when I asked shop keepers if they have something similar, several said yes then proceeded to show me something that looked nothing like the photos I showed them. I didn’t know whether to be mad or to laugh! Were they simply trying to shift whatever they had in the shop & lying through their teeth? Or did they have a different pair of cultural glasses on & really thought what they showed me is like what I’m looking for?

In any case I’m amazed at how difficult it was to find such simple looking fabrics & trims. So after checking Samyakk’s reputation (looking for any complaints on reviews.co.uk, sitejabber & compalintsboard) & confirming a few details with the shop, I took the plunge. Fingers crossed it’ll turn out well. I feel a bit more reassured by the fact that despite this being an obvious wannabe, the shop showed their version on the website instead of showing you the original then sending you something different. (I do wonder though perhaps in some culture it is common to treat designs as Look Books & get local tailor/seamstress to knock off a copy – sometimes a very different-looking copy!)

lehenga_gold-red_1-2All is not lost in terms of sewing though. I’ve ordered all of my lehenga with unstitched blouses. So I would still have to sew the blouse at least. And I’m still thinking of copying the original Gajiwala Saree blouse design & saving the Samyakk fabric for a more western casual luxe top (if there’s enough fabric). I still need to figure out the details of how to do these embellishment. While it might only be a top that I have to make now, I may still combine some ready-made trims with manual embroidery to save time & preserve my sanity. There are a few good Indian/Asian trim shops in Southall, Walthamstow, and Green St at reasonable prices £1-£4/m. I will need to do more research on Indian embroidery for the bits where ready-made trim just won’t suffice. Here’s a good intro video to Indian/Asian embroidery made by the V&A. Shame I missed their Indian fabrics exhibit

And while it might be overkill to source a big rectangular embroidery frame like in the above video, if I go break one of the dining chairs (!!!) maybe I can make myself one like this…

Maybe with practice I can become as fast as this artisan! 😀

 

Wedding Bling Plotting

So MR & I have decided to finally tie the knot. Which means an opportunity to make or buy a preeeetty dress.

Traditional white wedding dresses was ruled out because I really would like something I can wear again. Or at least refashion into something more wearable afterward. And as white isn’t my favourite colour, I don’t think I’ll get much mileage out of a white wedding dress. Instead I have fallen for fancy sarees from the Indian subcontinent. Originally I thought I’d just treat the saree I get as fabric & make a more western dress out of it. But the more bridal wear photos I looked at the more I’m tempted to stick to their original designs.

lehenga_red-gold-1What I didn’t realize was that their bridal wear differs depending on the region, with South India favouring the saree (draped fabric skirt/shawl + top + maybe petticoat), and West & East (North?) favouring a top (choli) + skirt (lehenga) + shawl (dupatta) combo. The latter seems to have the more intricate embroidery, but obviously would be harder to refashion. So I’m a bit torn.

The other problem is you set foot in those shops and your eyes glaze over, overwhelmed by the bling & variety. Where to even begin! I’m tempted to shop online, but am worried because most online shops are based in India, and not of that extraction I’m nervous whether cultural barriers might prevent a smooth online purchase. Things like whether what you see on the website will really be what you get – especially since I’ve been told that many items are hand-embellished, so difficult to reproduce exactly. Or how long it’ll take – is it off the shelf or do someone have to make them to order. (I only have about 3 months to sort out my outfit.) And my preference would of course be to just get the fabric & sew up myself to ensure better fit. But of course some of the nicer embellishment has to follow the pattern shape – eg neckline. So I don’t see how that would be possible if I get only the fabric.

It’s all a bit nerve-wrecking. I just ordered two lehenga cholis by Nakkashi online from Haya Creations.com. We shall see if (a) they arrive at all, (b) arrive in time, (c) the quality is acceptable, (d) if they look anything like the photos. (I would have ordered from Nakkashi’s online shop, except the order form doesn’t seem to work for international customers.)

Both of these – if the fabric quality is good enough – should be easily refashionable into casual luxe. They don’t look too OTT for the minuscule registry wedding ceremony we’re going to have.

I’m still debating on what my Plan B should be. One options is to try to get something from a brick & mortar shop, maybe from one of the shops on Green Street near Upton Park East London (- a must see if you like Indian/Asian Bling – apology to other nationals from the region for lumping you all under the “Indian” label for brevity – being another type of Asian myself I still can’t get use to calling you guys “Asians” because that’s what I’m used to calling Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, etc.). It’s an intimidating options due to the sheer number of choices & possibly higher prices or possibly less reliable fit.

Another alternative is to pick a similarly simpler design online & try to source the material to make it myself. Judging by the proliferation of the same photos online + complaints against stores, seems like maybe many shop are selling imitations & not the originals anyway. I think this one might be doable if I can source similar fabric & borders.

There were a couple of fabric / trim shops on Green Street carrying bling fabrics /trims presumably for exactly such purpose. Barbara, a London-based sewing friend, also found some in Walthamstow.

And of course any suggestions from you would be most welcome! As would any advice from any (British) “Asian” / Indian subcontinent readers of course! 🙂

Now if I may leave you with a few more eye-candies…

And I’m totally in awe of these tailors & embellishers’ skills…

Amazing! And nerve-wrecking to watch how the embellisher maneuver the cord back & forth under the high-speed couching machine. Hope no fingers were hurt in its making. It’s easy to criticize poor quality end products. But given the work pressure many of these workers are under, I think they’ve done pretty well. Certainly much better than I could have done under the same pressure.