Fashion Techniques-Tips For This Diwali Season

A lot of us find ourselves in a situation where we have too many unwearable, outdated clothes and too little money to buy new ones. So here are the tricks to create something out of nothing.

Dye the old one: This one works like hair color. So breathe life into salwar kameezes by over dyeing them in the colors of the season. But remember some things before doing that:
• You can only dye lighter colors into darker ones. If you go the other way, your old clothes have to go through a bleach-hydro process and might give away, considering they have to go through a great deal of wear and tear.
• Garments are generally stitched with polyester thread which does not readily catch dyes. So if one is attempting to dye a peach into a burgundy, the peach stitching will remain. You can pass it off as a detail. If it looks grotesque, run a line of sequins or embroidery over the stitch line.
• If the garment fits like a glove, don’t both coloring it because it might shrink.
• It’s advisable to open out the seams of the garment, dye the pieces and stitch them back again.

Alter the kameezes: Alter the silhouettes of large Kutras by chopping them into smaller sizes and racier styles. Kameezes are usually diaphanous, so this is possible. One popular way is to alter lengths, but try doing more complicated things by inserting darts, chopping sleeves and altering darts, chopping sleeves and altering necklines. And a little indulgence in the form of extra dupatta or a brand new churidar is forgivable.

Deconstruction of the old one: This one is for serious design students. Pick up some old kurtas which have a certain synergy between them and interchange parts of the silhouettes to create new ones. For instance, you can probably cut a few inches off the hem of one kurtas and use it as a ruffle of another.

Patchwork and appliqué: This one is fun all the way because if you like jig saw puzzles and want to create a heavy kurtas, but don’t want to spend money. Take old saris borders, remnants of dupatta, some block printed fabrics, even bead bags. Join them together in any shape you want and create your own fabric with your own designing. Blanket stitch the joints and over dye the pieces for some color synergy. Cut them to make a short kurtas and make a big out of nothing.

Wear the kurtas with solid color silk pants and reap the rewards of your hard work. These were the few handy tips, but the possibilities are endless. Everything in your wardrobe ca be recycled into highly personalized style items. All you have to do is use your imagination and creativity.