His mother would like me to wear a shalwaar kameez to the wedding, and likely all other family events most likely, simply because there would be fewer questions about me and I wouldn’t stick out *as much*.
Festival, which is the day after Ramadan ends, is coming up (Fahim’s not as cranky this year as he usually gets. My theory? The hydration powder I feed him every day is helping. He won’t admit that, though. [Big Grin] ) in a week and a half. On that day, since we’ll be spending it with his family, we’ll be bringing along new clothes for his brother and his parents, and they’ll be giving us (I don’t know how I got roped into this – I’m not Muslim, so the tradition doesn’t apply to me! [Smile] ) new clothes as well.
To further her ends towards getting me in a shalwaar, it’s pretty likely that Fahim’s mom will get me one. [Eek!] To beat her, I bought a shalwar kit. [Big Grin]
The shalwaar kameez kit contains the fabric, with embroidery done to it (I’ll have to take a pic, won’t I?) for the tunic, another piece of fabric for the pants, and the shawl/thing you drape over your shoulder. (Why, oh why, does my brain block access to internal vocabulary?)
Ready mades are readily available, but alas, in the land of the small and petite, where I am neither, that was a complete no go. Hence making my own. The kit was $17. Buy the fabric myself, just plain fabric with no embroidery, for the whole thing amounted to about $3. We’ll only buy the kit again if I really really really really really love the tunic bit of things. The pants fabric is just ordinary cotton broadcloth. For the cotton kit, that is. You can get these either in cotton, polyester, or silk.
Anyway. So* I now have the makings of two shalwaar kameez and have to figure things out.
I have the block pattern making book that I found at Sarasavi bookstore – and I was ecstatic at finding it. However, now that I’m going through it and trying to do things, I’m a little sad.
While I have no doubt that I’ll be able to create a pattern that fits me like a glove, I don’t want a pattern that fits me like a glove. I like loose and breathable.
Which leads me to the next question.
How much allowance do I add for it to be comfortable?
