First An Introduction to my Passion

 As long as I can remember I have always loved the world of fabrics, clothing, design, color and textures since I was a young girl. So I decided to pursue my passion by going into Textile Designing in College in India and learnt the nuts and bolts of textiles, the types, its processes, the intricate weaving patterns and skillful printing techniques. It was a huge world and I couldnt learn all of the techniques, the hundreds of fabrics, textures from machine made to handmade textiles in one lifetime. But I decided to make this my career and learn all I could about this magical world of color,texture,weaving,printing, yarns,techniques, dyeing, all made with their own unique trademark skills. 

I was very lucky to have visited hundreds of textiles mills in South India, watching how they employed various looms, yarns to weave into a unique pattern. It was a fascinating world,one that was handed down from one generation to the next with an inherent knowledge on how to create these beautiful patterns without having any formal training or education. They were born with this knowledge in their DNA, while learning the rest by watching their grandparents and parents who start to train them as young as toddlers. Their hands move very fast becaming a blur while they chattered away like monkeys laughing, weaving all simultaneously like a well choreographed dance.

I learnt a lot. I applied this knowledge to all my jobs in India and USA and established my reputation as an expert on various textiles, their uses, identification, pricing and sourcing. I have 30 years experience now in sourcing, product development, and designing using fabrics that would be best suited to a particular item of clothing. Without the knowledge of textiles and its properties ,I would not be a good designer or design bespoke outfits for my customers. Its the knowledge of knowing which fabric would look best for a particular design or client that makes an excellent fit, drape and look.

So in the following blogs I wil try and talk about the various textiles I am fascinated with and how they translate into a ladies Jacket, sari or dress.