Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Turning a Sari Into a Skirt

16 October 2013
 
I realize that not everyone will be interested in this - but if you are, this is the triple-layer wraparound skirt made out of a sari.

The original sari was three different fabrics (black, black print, and brick red) sewn together to make the sari - I think the print would wrap for the skirt, the black would be pleated for the overlay, and the brick red would wrap around the torso and drape over a shoulder.  All the fabrics had gold and red trim, although the black print had a different gold trim design than the solids.  (This is a cotton sari - they are difficult to find, most are either gorgeous silk or budget polyester these days.)


So:
- Top layer is black with the gold/red border, slightly offset to show the right side border of the brick red layer.

- Middle layer (shown by flipping the black layer over and making that the part against the body) is brick red with gold/red border at bottom and flap side.

- Bottom layer is the black print, with gold/red border at the bottom - to wear this, I just turn the skirt around so that the "inside" becomes the "outside."

The hardest part was figuring out which part would line up which way - so I made a little mock-up out of paper for the tailor.  I also drew schematics, showing each layer, as well as regular "fashion illustration" sketches to show how each layer would look on.

Problem - tailor put one tie at one end, one tie in the middle, with velcro to hold the flap.  Hmmmm - guess she didn't realize that I needed the ties to be available to close the red layer, which is why I designed it with the ties at each end of the skirt.  (Easy to remove the velcro, remove the tie from the middle, and re-sew it to the other end of the skirt.)


So that's the three layer skirt!  I'd like to find a solid black tank top to wear with it, but since most of my clothes for this trip are black/white/red/grey, I already have quite a few tops to go with the skirt.

Not only do I sew coconut fiber and leaf skirts, I can design real things too, LOL!
















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