Eid Dresses

Here is the promised post about the Eid dresses I made for the girls. It took a few days to get cool and dry enough weather to get a photo shoot. The fabric for all three dresses was the same, though I used only two color schemes. (Could not find a nice enough color for the youngest, so used the same color scheme for her as the oldest). Fabrics are diamante chiffon for the tops and dupattas and jamavar for the bottoms. And gota trim on the shirts (kameez).

For the younger two, I sewed Kameez with shalwar/straight pants.

Now for the interesting part, and the star of my sewing _ the gharara. My nine year-old has recently developed in traditional flouncy pieces, so I offered to sew her a gharara. Gharara is a traditional dress of the Muslim women of the indian subcontinent. Although no longer part of our day-to-day wear, it is one of the staples at weddings and makes a fashion come-back every now and then, with a modern twist. This year happens to be one of those years.

It is essentially a pair of extremely flared pants, the lower part of which is cut on bias and gathered at the knees. The seam at the knee is adroned with some trim or embellishment. It is worn with a short (and sometimes long shirt and a dupatta/stole). Its construction is quite complex and tricky. At least it was for me, as it was my debut attempt. The slippery fabric made it all the more challenging. And I had no idea how much yardage I would need. All things considering, it turned out quite satisfactory. 

My daughter had a great time wearing it, so it was all worth it. She still wants a ready-to-wear lehnga (traditional flared maxi skirt) for the next Eid. (Losing interest in your mom's handmade stuff has to be the first sign of growing up, I had to bribe her with a matching hand-sewn clutch).

In knitting news, I am just starting on the sleeves of the July sweater and hope to get it finished soon.

July Sweater Update

Eid came and went so fast, just as all the good times seem to. It is already two weeks past and we have settled back into the dull routine of the ordinary day-to-day life. But the people around us do not seem to have fathomed the fact. Our air-conditioner repair man took ten days to return from his eid break and fix our unit. Thankfully, a few rains in the meantime helped us manage without the AC.  Our broadband Internet slowed down before Eid and again it took nearly two weeks to get a response from the company. The solution they came up with, was to give us a new phone line and number. Now we have a changed phone number and no broadband  (not even the slower version). They promise to get to it "as soon as possible ". Meanwhile I am raking up charges on my mobile Internet.

Other than that, life is quite usual. Kids have three more weeks of summer vacation and are finishing up their vacation homework.  I still have to do the post about the Eid clothes but I am waiting for cooler weather to get some outdoor pictures. It has been quite hot to knit without the AC but I hope to resume work on the July sweater tomorrow,  in shaa Allah. Here is how far along I am. Just an inch short of starting the neckline shaping.

I did manage some more sewing but it was mostly sleepwear for the kids, nothing bloggable. Hopefully, less internet will mean quite a bit more knitting/sewing/reading time.