It has been quite a departure from my usual MO to use fabric I have not printed myself and silk at that. But some time ago I came across an Etsy site in New Zealand that imports amongst other textiles silk saris from India. They are gently used, or at least the one I bought is in perfect condition. The colours that suit Indian sensibilities are not always in tune with my preferences, but after choosing carefully I was delighted with my purchase when it arrived.
I wanted a cocktail dress I could wear for evenings out on our European trip and it seemed a waste of all that lovely silk to make it too short. So I decided on a maxi skirt with 3 inverted box pleats front and back, set into the StyleArc Sydney dress bodice. I like the cut on short sleeves and high empire waist of the Sydney.
There are different weights of silk and the type I chose is semi-transparent, so requires something underneath if you want to wear it as a dress. I have not tested this, but suspect that the tussar silk saris are heavier and more opaque. Tussar silk is wild silk and the tussar fabric I have encountered so far has always been quite sturdy.
I could have lined the skirt of this dress, but I didn’t have a suitable voile on hand, and the cottons I had would have made the dress too heavy. Instead I have a number of cotton voile slips in various colours that I can wear under sheer fabrics. I thought a burgundy version would be nice with the blues. White would be another option.
The sewing details are on PatternReview.
Wearing it with pants doesn’t look quite as good as I imagined., so I probably won’t. Win some lose some!
And just a couple more photos of a dress and two tops I made recently, either painted with dye or stencilled with screen printing ink. These are on linen, as usual.
(If you are wondering what I have in my hand in those photos, it’s the clicker to take the photo remotely.)
The Insouciant Stitcher 
Oh how nice, I especially love the sari dress and the top! I hope you are either going to the south of Europe or your trip will be later on because, I am speaking for Austria, it is still very cold and even a hint of snow is forcasted.
Greetings, Elke
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Hi Elke, glad you like it. We are going to Spain, where I believe it is quite hot already! We will visit Austria too, but not until mid May. I hope it gets warm there soon, for your sake as much as mine. 🙂
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Beautiful! Some of my favourite clothes are made from saris – and I confess to having ‘borrowed’ a few motifs to explore in printing projects as well. Have a wonderful tip!
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Thanks, I hadn’t thought of that, using the motifs.
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*trip* (silly autocorrect)
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Old saris! Also a good idea and very different from bed linen. I like your work, especially the green/blue dress with the color options.
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Thank you, Mema. Yes, a silk sari is a lot more upmarket and more suitable for evening wear than daytime. Sadly that is why it will get worn quite a lot less, it then again evening wear has quite a long lifespan if it is not too obviously trendy.
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Wow, super! Ich hab hier auch noch so ein Sari rumliegen, die Idee mit diesem bequemen, fließenden Sommerkleid ist echt toll. Das nehm ich mal als Inspiration mit.
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Toll daß du auch was aus deinem Sari machst. Viel Spaß und gutes Gelingen!
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