Salwar Kameez

Well, I had to stop sewing on my unknown-provenance-vintage-dress-pattern dress to start sewing on some clothing for our trip to India.

Each year we (my family) goes to northern India. We trek in the Himalayan mountains.

Last year, I stitched a quick salwar-kameez outfit together--much too quickly, as I didn't put in the gussets on the kameez top. Bad mistake! the seams tore a bit under the arms, so now I'm going back and putting in some gussets, like so:

I'm also going to put in some handmade binding around the neck and the sleeves for a bit of fancying-up:

I love to wear these outfits! They are so comfortable and yet so feminine. I have several that I wear to church and out & about.

I'm working on writing up a lesson on making the traditional kameez top, with gussets. I have used the Folkwear pattern in the past, but I don't like how the neckline and shoulder seams are made. It just doesn't turn out very well.

You can find a tutorial on making the salwar pants (the churidar style, which is tight-legged from the knee on down to the ankle) on Burdastyle.com. Look under How-Tos for churidar leggings. If you like the more traditional type bottoms, which are baggy all the way to the ankles, I can make up a lesson for those too. I have used another Folkwear pattern for the traditional salwar pants, which I really do like! Way comfortable!

Folkwear Pattern #119 Sarouelles