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May Your Best Saree(s) Win!

Discussion in 'Snippets of Life (Non-Fiction)' started by Rihana, Dec 11, 2019.

  1. Rihana

    Rihana Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    To read "Khatau" after so many years, decades .... is hard to describe how it feels. I had one that was a shade of sky blue crossed with powder blue. The blouse material was lizzy-lizzy (spelling?).
     
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  2. Rihana

    Rihana Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    Welcome back, stranger! Your absence was palpable!

    Please to say more about all the sarees when time permits and done catching up...
     
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  3. Amulet

    Amulet IL Hall of Fame

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    Sweet and at the same time RFLOL'worthy!!

    I like the twin-color sarees -- blue-to-blue/green color of the peacock neck. These sarees are very noticeable in the evening receptions, because they reflect the fluorescent (tube) light, and throw out green, blue and red colors at the beholders.

    Such a lot of sarees had become patches on other tops, and jeans. And sometimes, even totebags. I am not sure if the bargain (with the child) to add a silk patch to a jeans still works to talk a teenager out of wearing distressed (torn) jeans.
     
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  4. shravs3

    shravs3 IL Hall of Fame

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    Ditto my mom has the same colour saree with silver sequins. I love the colour :hearteyes:
    I have wore it many time’s and tats one of my favourite moms saree.
     
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  5. Agatha83

    Agatha83 IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Rihana,

    You have brought the snippets forum alive with your lively, colourful saree subject, a favorite topic of every Indian woman.
    My initial saree collection was only after marriage, for which I bought Bombay Dyeing sarees, all cotton only.
    3 decades back when my DH got a posting in Malda, W. Bengal, I was amazed by the variety Bengal cotton sarees offered at very low prizes. I just grabbed them by dozens and they served me faithfully for the next ten years, earning me a word of praise wherever I went, with me wearing the simple starched, ironed cotton saree.
    Now that I am nearing seventy, wearing a saree seems to be the most irritating task,and with the body undergoing physical changes, finding a comfortable blouse is an impossible task.
    I have preserved my 45 year old maroon nine yard wedding silk saree, which I wear occasionally for poojas, like varalakshmi vratham etc.

    Agatha83
     
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  6. Rihana

    Rihana Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    Bengal cotton sarees were a coveted commodity in the place I grew up. Whenever a neighbor went to Calcutta (OK now Kolkata) on a work trip, he used to bring back 10-25 cotton sarees. His wife got to choose first of course, but after that, the order in which neighborhood ladies got to choose depended on their then relationship with her. : )

    My mother had one Bengal Cotton that she let me wear a few times but I could never take it for good. Washing, drying those sarees, and starching them with ganji (water drained from cooking rice) or the store-bought "INA" starch, hanging them to dry on the clothesline so that the corners didn't dry elongated into odd shapes... those were the days and those were the times. In the hot summer, even in the shade, the starched saree dried up in less than 5 minutes and we ironed it while it was still a bit moist.

    I can write an entire piece on the process of sewing on a fall to the saree by hand. In one of my India trips, I had a fight with the tailor because he did a machine zig/zag (pico?) stitch for the fall. He told me quite disdainfully that no one does hemming any more to the fall on the side where it meets the saree's edge. : )

    Same problem here with finding a comfortable blouse. I can't bring myself to wear those "pull on" stretch/velvet ones or for that matter any ready-made ones. All I can do is take a safety pin and small scissors and remove the hem to loosen it a little. : )
     
  7. Rihana

    Rihana Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    You mean reusing old sarees to make patches on other tops etc? I don't know why but for some reason I never could bring myself to reuse a saree like that. Except once, after my 9 month old got the roseola virus and couldn't wear even the softest U.S. baby tops as they are made of thick material, I cut one soft cotton saree and sewed /stitched a few sleeveless tops for her. The saree had been washed in the washer and dried in the dryer a few times. It was not very funny that for a while Mr. thought I am using the same dress for the baby for a whole week.
     
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  8. Amulet

    Amulet IL Hall of Fame

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    Once upon a time, I did cull the sarees to make tops ( I used buy patterns, and then used older kurthi's for size), and partches. Now and then I even wore some of them under the (suit-)jacket to go to work. I have even stitched some silk duvets (with Thinsulate within the linings)for gifts to friends/colleagues they can use in the crib.
     
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  9. Rihana

    Rihana Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    Economists Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee at the Nobel Prize ceremony in Stockholm on Tuesday:

    prize.jpg
    The Mumbai-born economist looked dapper in a silk, white, gold-bordered dhoti in Bengali style paired with a beige kurta and a black bandhgala. Duflo opted for a plain blue-green saree with a gold embellished end, and paired it with a contrast, red blouse with gold buti embriodery. She completed her look with a red bindi for the award ceremony that was held at the Stockholm Concert Hall.
    Source

    You have always been a craft-y one! : )
     
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  10. vidhyalakshmid

    vidhyalakshmid IL Hall of Fame

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    Interesting thread Rihana! I love flamboyant sarees. I feel women look more elegant when they drape in colorful sarees than any other outfit. I had a good collection. Which I can tell as my favorite is the hardest question.One banares saree light brown with orange and blue patches, it has silver border.
    When I was working in India daily I used to wear sarees with same color accessories (bangle,ear ring,bindhi). In my work place they used to ask me how I had the patience to change and match the accessories every day.
    I had one baby pink mysore silk with brown border. I loved the look when I was dressed up. It was torn and gone.I always love to wear the festive Kanchipuram silk.
     
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