Saree - six yards of cloth draped around the body in various styles are worn by many woman from the south asian region. They come in various textures, patterns, and all and more colours one can imagine.
My grand mother who's in her 90's still wears saree everyday at home. My mother wears mostly when she goes to the city or on special occasions such as weddings etc. Many women in my family wear it in a style known as Kandyan [also known as osariya]. Cotton sarees are very common for daily wear. Saree is usually worn with a jacket and a slip.
If you go
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sari here you can read and see some pictures of various styles of draping.
The quilt I made is out saree borders from my mother's cotton sarees. My mother finds that whole six yards a little too much for her as she is petite. So she would cut off some of the border, and sew it for her liking. When I visited her, she gave me a whole pile of pretty and colourful cut-offs and I thought I would try quilt.
I cut them in larger squares and pieced them. I used fine cotton batting and a soft calico for backing. I did patterns on the printed material using chain stitch [mostly], running stitch and some blanket stitch. In places where it was plain and needed more filling in I used paisley patterns. [one above]
It took about an year for me to complete the quilt as it is quite large; fits a queen size bed. I am happy with the final result. And, every time I took at it, it brings me a warm feeling of the tropics.
Thank you for taking time to stop by,
xxx,
Gaia
