The Design Process

Its been a long time since I have shown any activity on this blog. I was missing in action because right after my exams I left for my sister's wedding which by the way was really fun.

After coming back I have pondered on various things to write about and I realized that I have mentioned the MBA many times but have not written about my boutique in Ludhiana.... Yup... my mother runs it and me and my sister (Kirti)  are design partners to it.

Well now that I am writing about my boutique and recently we designed clothes for my sister's wedding, I thought that I will take you all through the process of designing my sister's Wedding Lehnga.

I have used various pictures to illustrate the entire process.....

So lets begin............

Step 1: Deciding the colour and fabric for the garment. We chose red color as in Indian culture it is  the holy color of matrimony.

The skirt was made of red brocade ( a silk fabric with woven patterns in gold and silver threads) and the dupatta and blouse was done in Crepe Silk.

Step 2: Deciding the embroidery pattern. We first make the designs on paper, then transfer them on a tracing paper.

Border 1

Motif 1 

Motif 2

Motif 3: A paisley

Step 3: Tracing the design on to the fabric which has been tied on to a wooden frame.

Step 4: Putting on the embellishments onto the traced design. We used a lot of sequins, dabka ( delicate coiled metal, colored stones, thread work and pearls.

Artisans at work ( Note how the skirt has been cut on bias and then tied to the wooden frame)

This is the border on the hem of the Lehnga. We used Motif 1 to create the entire border. It was flanked by the lines of pearl on both its sides and then the border 1 was traced and above border 1 we traced the paisley motif.

We filled the empty space between the 2 motifs with intricate mesh of red resham (Silk thread) and sequence. It gives a very distinct look to the border. It red stands out very brightly in all of the gold work.

We gave subtle touches of green in the embroidery to cut out the monotony of regular red and golden lehngas

Motif 2 was sprawled across the entire lehnga

 

Step 5: Once the skirt is embroidered then the dupatta and blouse are done using the same techniques and the final step is stitching of the entire garment.

Following are the pics of my sister on her D- Day 

We  had used a net dupatta for covering the head as it is light weight. Border 1 was used to embellish it

Let me know how did u find this journey of making of the most important attire of a girl's life.