Saree exhibition at Orissa Bhawan

A few weeks ago we went to the Orissa Bhawan to an exhibition held by Boyanika, the store front for the Orissa State Handloom Weaver's Cooperative Society. Boyonika has a store in Palika Bazar, New Delhi and additionally holds exhibitions during festivals like Diwali at the Orissa Bhawan here. They carry a wide variety of sarees, stoles, kurtis, salwar suit pieces, kurtas, handloom towels, bedsheets, bedcovers, etc. They normally have a 20% discount on their sale but this time round they had a special 30% discount.

The exhibition was in the Orissa Bhawan basement maybe since the rains had played spoilsport earlier in the day. They had a pandal erected in the grounds with some decorations but not much effort was put into doing up the basement hall. A few sarees and kurtas were displayed on the walls of the hall and the rest of the stuff was piled high on tables behind the counters. So I started pointing out

colors and designs I wanted to see and the salesperson was good enough to open it. They had amazing saris - Tussars, Bomkai, Sambalpuri,  Sonepur, etc. all hand woven by weavers in Orissa. Some sarees he said, took up to a month to weave. I made my selection and continued talking to the salesperson about the different sarees. We saw a few more sarees of which a silk-tissue saree blew us off with its intricate weave and deservedly was the costliest saree there at Rs.25000.00! 

 

SEWA

A few days ago, I went to the SEWA Lucknow chikan exhibition. It was the first day and I reached there about 11.30am and there was a sizeable crowd already going through the stuff. I guess that speaks for the demand for their products.

I saw some lovely sarees, stoles, dupattas, suit sets, kurtis, etc. I decided to go around the hall first just for the pleasure of it, afterall 'nayan trupti' comes first. Then realized that if I liked something and did not pick it immediately somebody else would. So I started collecting the ones I liked. After trying on some kurties in a storeroom cum makeshift changing room, I decided on buying 2 suit pieces and a sari. I saw pieces in white, off-white and ivory colors which looked beautiful but decided to get colors this time. I now have to get these beautiful art pieces stitched to perfection. I have added the pictures of the suit pieces I bought.

Kuthampully

Kuthampully is a small quaint weavers village in Thrissur district of Kerala. It is famous for hand and power loom weaving and specializes in the typical Kerala style kasavu (zari) and karaa mundu, set mundu, set saree and salwar kameez sets in cream and gold combination.
Till about 15 years ago, the sarees from Kuthampully were found only in nearby cities and towns and was coveted by many who lived in the central and south Kerala. There was a difference in the saree borders woven in Kuthampully making it really attractive. One may wonder how much variation can the set mundu/ saree design have but the subtle variation made a lot of difference. Difference enough to warrant people travelling to Kuthampully to buy sets and sarees in bulk prior to a wedding. Or one could wait for the exhibitions held across the state prior to Onam and there was atleast one stall selling the Kuthampully set mundu.

The first time I heard about this place was from my husband, Kuthampully is near my husband's place in Kerala and I was excited to go there the minute he mentioned it. I wanted to see and feel the place and getting sarees straight from the maker added to my pleasure.

We first visited Kuthampully about 10 years ago, there were a lot of small shops with stacks of set mundus and sarees packed in cellophane arranged in metal shelves. These shops seemed to be set up to cater to bulk buyers without display tables or window displays, etc. On entering the store we most often saw a few employees packing cartons of sets or sarees for despatch. Of course they welcomed the individual customers like us and giving a 10% discount to all customers seemed to be the norm at all shops. There were small one and two room houses behind these stores where we saw the residents weaving. Unfortunately I had forgotten my camera and could not take any pictures. The shops were more like co-op societies and giving employment to the residents of the weaving village.

We went to Kuthampully again last year just to look around and discovered that it looked different, with a lot of shop fronts set up the same way like before but with no weavers around. We found mundus and sarees with silver kasavu karaa, set sarees woven with tissue threads giving it a gold sheen and bright colored karaas, I guess these are the latest trends. I bought  a couple of sarees, sets, mundus and salwar kameez sets to add to my collection before returning home happy.  Above are pictures of my tissue set saree, salwar suits and mundus I bought from Kuthampully.

A conversation overheard...

The other day when I went to the tailor to get my blouse stitched, there was a lady who was discussing blouse patterns with him. The conversation was hilarious because the lady was trying to fit in as much as possible onto the blouse and the tailor was trying hard to politely dissuade her. They seemed to have worked with each other for years and their conversation showed it. The conversation went something like this:
L: Kya design kar sakte ho yeh kapde ke liye? Dekho maine Alka se thoda sa embroidery karvaaya sleeve pe.
T: Haanh dekha, paan-galaa banaa doonga.
L: Aur kya ho sakta hain?
T: Aur kuch nahi, galaa ka design karoonga, bas!
Another lady came in at that time with some lace to be put onto the blouse she had already given.
L2: Aap woh pink blouse pe yeh lace lagaa denge na? Aur woh blouse princess cut rahega.
T: Theek hai, kar doonga.
And the second lady left after this exchange.
L: Yeh princess cut kya hai? Mere blouse pe kar do na.
T: Woh pattern thode young ladies ke liye hai; 30-35 tak ladies ke liye.
L: Woh lady toh 35 ki nahi thi.
T: Yeh blouse unke liye nahi hai, unke bhaanji ke liye hai.
L: Main bhi sochu aap unke liye alag cut kar rahe hain, mere liye nahi. Woh meri friend hain aur main uski umar jaanti hoon!
I think at this point the tailor gave up trying to advise her on keeping the pattern simple and ....
T: Aap kal dopaher ko aayiye aur pattern book dekh lijiye.
L: Kab aaoon? Dopaher doh baje (2pm)?
T: Haanh, doh baje.
And with that he turned to me and said, "Boliye, aap ko kya karwanaa hain?". His tone suggesting, he was ready to tackle another unrealistic female :)
I felt like asking him how many such ladies does he get in a day but let it rest, maybe some other day.

In search of a tailor, blouse patterns et al

After our return from the US, a lot of things kept us busy what with the shipping of our stuff, getting our phone and internet connections, opening bank accounts, organizing our stuff and some more. During this time, I had not given much thought to my saris and Indian wear, but the announcement of my cousin's wedding got me all geared. Being in the US we had missed a few marriages of our cousins and we were so looking forward to joining in the celebrations.

Now I had the opportunity to wear that silk saree that I had bought just for its color. I had not even cut the blouse piece off it. So that's the first thing I got done with mom's help and then started our discussion for a tailor. Our old tailor who did all our clothes and uniforms from the time my older sister was in kindergarten, was long gone. Which meant I would have to get a blouse stitched with a new tailor as trial and if it fit well then this piece could be given.

There were a few tailors in the area but not all of them could do a good job with a blouse. The tailor I relied on to do my salwar suits did not do blouses and suggested I check around before giving it to any tailor. On speaking with a few neighbors the search narrowed down to 2 tailors who specialized in blouses. Both of them stitched well but one of them was better but could not be relied on giving the blouse on time. So I decided on the first one, tailor A, who would stitch and have the blouse ready on time. I gave him a piece first which I would not regret if it did not fit well. He stitched it well and off went the prized piece to him to get done. The blouse was to be stitched in a simple cut with a deep u-neck and short sleeves in keeping with the current fashion.

At the same time I also needed to do a blouse for a georgette sari I had bought for the evening reception. And everywhere I went, I now started noticing the blouse patterns that the ladies were wearing. The necklines were varied: high, deep, with ties, with tassels, with contrast cloth inserts, differently shaped necklines, off shoulder, halter necks and many more. I also checked the internet for pictures and found some more! And further learnt that there was something called princess cut as well. Whew! Thoroughly confused now I went to the tailor and hoped he would tell me what to get done. I had a couple of other blouses also which I took to him. He looked at them and suggested that for 2 of them, he could do different necklines and put zari trims on the sleeves and back. For the third one, he suggested I keep it simple so attention is drawn to the hand work done on it. This time I had taken these blouses to tailor B and true to his reputation he delivered it to me 5 days late!