Spending no money on a project is my specialty. Being involved with the Drag scene and not having the money to pay for expensive outfits or explaining to my parents why I spent 40 dollars on a corset has long prepared me for this sort of thing. When I discovered Fabscrap, I couldn’t believe that there was a place that really had fabric you could buy the pound. I had made a sketch beforehand. Since I am more experienced with draping and not sewing, I decided to cut the two black strips of chiffon I found at Fabscrap on the bias and drape it across a piece of fabric I cut out of a hand embroidered silk sari that my grandmother gave me as she never wore it.
However, the top didn’t end up being as polished as i wanted it to be so I decided to include it in the photo but do a separate garment. I had an old pair of jeans lying around which I would never have worn as they had an awkward tear in the crotch. I decided to rip the seam down to the leg and make one of the legs flared, using fabric from the saari.
I have always liked things that were slightly perverse, especially if one had to take a minute to figure it out till it hit them. So, keeping in mind that the saari I was using was a traditional Indian garment, I pleated it as it is traditionally pleated, I sewed it into the legs but was very careful to have the decorative border of holy flowers come right onto the crotch. It’s these kinds of details that are not istantly recognizable that i like. My Parsi heritage will always be a part of who I am but at the same time, I do not feel very closely attached to it, almost distanced from it. The religion does not encourage fashion, is not very sex-positive, both of which are things I have always been interested in but have never been able to openly express. So this is my way of bringing in a bit of my own culture without necessarily revering it.
The problems I faced were many as I soon realized that the top was not going to work and needed different fabrics for it to look even partially done. The denim was also exceptionally hard to sew through, especially the crotch and waistband are where the seams are the thickest. However, considering this was my first time making a garment I am generally proud of what I have made.
