Kalamkari Jacket: my last Make Nine 2020 finish

The last Make Nine 2020 project squeaked in with four days to spare in this Make Nine year. This is my kalamkari jacket.

Kalamkari Jacket. Hand stamped with vegetable dyes on cotton fabric.
Fabric from Diamond Textiles.

I have been savoring this kalamkari yardage from Diamond Textiles for some time, so included it in my Make Nine list for this year. My appreciation of the kalamkari technique deepened after taking a virtual workshop through Selvedge magazine this year. 

In the photo below, the individual block print designs can be seen. Each block is stamped by hand and is skillfully registered with the each image across the fabric. 

Kalamkari jacket, front view.

Matching the designs

Because the pattern in this fabric is prominent, it took extra time and thought when laying out the pattern pieces for the jacket. The design needed to line up across the front as well as at the side seams. (There were also a few re-sews at the top and hemline to make the pattern match.)

Kalamkari jacket front.

Kalamkari jacket back.

The collar pieces were also cut with the print design in mind. Here is a back view of the collar. 

Kalamkari jacket back collar view.

Hand finishing

I do enjoy the hand work involved with garment making. For my "quilted" jackets, I leave about an inch of the lining extending out at the fronts and back side seams to cover the raw seam allowances once the side seams are sewn. 

When cutting out the pattern pieces, the lining extends out at the side seams.

After the pieces are sewn, the lining is lapped over the raw seam allowances and hand stitched down. This is done on the side seams and the sleeves.

Enclosing raw seam allowances of the sleeves.

At the shoulder seams, I insert a binding strip.

A 2.5" strip of lining fabric is cut for binding the shoulder seams.

The binding strip is hand sewn over the raw seam allowances after the seam is sewn.

Hand stitching the shoulder seam bindings.

A bias strip covers the raw edges at the sleeve hems. Sometimes I use a contrasting fabric for this detail—to make it show. However, I opted not to introduce another (commercial) fabric into this garment.

Bias binding at the sleeve cuffs.

The button loops are of the same kalamkari fabric and the buttons are sewn on by hand. 

Buttons and corresponding button loop closures.

The inside collar, front facings and bottom hem are sewn by hand.

Jacket lining.

The fussier aspects in the making of this jacket were worth the extra time and effort. Don't ya think?

Kalamkari Jacket. Make Nine 2020 finish.

That's it for Make Nine 2020! 

I checked all the boxes... and colored in all the worksheet diagrams.

My Make Nine worksheet for 2020. All items complete.

Here is the 2020 recap:

• Wild Card: Odette knit top 
• Kalamkari Jacket (this blog post)
• Wild Card: Bristol knit top—a new pattern for me 
• Pillowcases: one set for Valentine's Day and another using a double border print fabric
• Knitting project: Improv Garter Stitch Wrap, a stash buster yarn project
• Rayon project: the MixIt Top with a new fabric substrate
• Yarn project: slip stitch colorwork knit dish towel
• UFO finish: Kantha stitched zipper pouch. Two UFOs were combined to create this useful zipper bag.
• Charity: 12 kitty quilts made that supported the Chattanooga Cat Clinic and the Pet Placement Center.

My Make Nine completed projects for 2020.

Make Nine 2021

I've been contemplating and planning for Make Nine 2021. I will be taking the Challenge again next year. Here is a link with more details, helpful hints on choosing your list and a printable worksheet. Anyone else want to join me?

Stitching Success Tracker: December status

December. The last month of the year... and a status update of my 2020 Stitching Success Tracker.

2020 Stitching Success Tracker: December status.

November hexagons
On the EPP [English paper piecing] front, 15 hexagon blocks were (surprisingly) completed in November. Four had a patriotic theme for the 2020 election and one commemorating Thanksgiving. 

I picked up several fat quarters on my travels and am still enjoying "selective cutting" motifs for various shaped pieces. This project is one that was resurrected during the quarantine shut-down—when many of us makers were seeking something soothing, creative and distracting from world events happening around us.

15 hexagons finished in November.

Ten hexies were finished in October.

10 hexagons finished in October.

Make Nine 2020
My Improv Garter Stitch Wrap was finished in November—a project I'm still thrilled about and wear most every day. This project was Finish #8 of 9.

Make Nine 2020 status.

I've started on the ninth item on my Make Nine list—a jacket using a kalamkari fabric from Diamond Textiles.

Pattern piece layout for a kalamkari jacket.

I love this piece of fabric! The colors and design are classic. It's hand block printed with natural dyes and it reflects the culture of this technique and the long, rich history of textiles. After taking a kalamkari workshop offered by Selvedge magazine, I have a new appreciation and admiration for this printing process.

 

Kalamkari textile workshop with Kirit Chitara at the Selvedge World Fair

The world gets smaller every day! This is especially true now, with the aid of technology. 

Through the dedication, hard work and forethought of Polly Leonard and the team at Selvedge Magazine, paired with Zoom technology, I was able to attend the Selvedge World Fair 2020—A Celebration of Cloth, Culture and Creativity—to take a virtual workshop with Kirit Chitara on kalamkari painting. It was amazing and eye-opening, to say the least.

Issue 93 of Selvedge magazine and page spread featuring kalamkari textiles.

Kalamkari textiles

I was introduced to kalamkari textiles by Rohni Sandhu, the owner of Diamond Textiles. Diamond Textiles is a fabric company that specializes in authentic world textiles... not reproductions that are printed on a base fabric to "look like" various woven, dyed or printed techniques like ikat, serape and kalamkari. 

One of my Make Nine 2020 projects is to make something with yardage I have of this beautiful textile. The kalamkari prints [from Diamond Textiles] that I have (shown below) are block printed by hand with natural dyes. 

Hand block printed kalamkari cotton fabrics from Diamond Textiles.
Natural dyes: madder and indigo.

The virtual kalamkari workshop with Kirit Chitara—an artisan from India whose family has carried on this tradition for eight generations—focused on the Mata-ni-Pachedi hand painting kalamkari process. With the assistance of an interpreter, Kirit explained the history of this 800 year-old art and the meaning behind the images of the mother goddess, animals and flora depicted in the scenes. 

Kirit paints the colors by hand using a sharpened bamboo stick.

Generations of kalamkari artisans
Starting when he was a young boy of 5, Kirit learned how to draw the images by watching his grandfather and father. The workshop participants watched Kirit create an entire scene (with pen and paper, for ease in capturing on video) before our eyes. There was no sketch, tracing or pencil guidelines that he followed. Starting with the mother goddess, then adding mountains, water, sea creatures, animals and other figures... the drawing was a total stream-of-consciousness from the story in his mind through his hands to the ink on paper.

The start of the drawing.

Progress on drawing the goddess.

Natural dyes

The colors in the images and the background of these textiles are created with natural dyes—madder, indigo, turmeric, iron, pomegranate, etc. The drawing, painting, mordenting, dyeing and washing processes are extensive. Depending on size, a piece can take anywhere from 1-1/2 to 8 months to complete. 

Various seeds, roots and minerals used for natural dyes.

Questions from worldwide participants

People from all over the world attended this workshop. Selvedge, the host of the event, is based in London, England. Judging from the various accents of the attendees, people from several countries and continents were able to attend virtually. 

When asked, Kirit replied that his favorite parts of the process was coming up with the narrative and doing the drawings. He also enjoys adding the details to the images. He said, "the filling-in process is tedious," at which we all chuckled. When asked if women did any of the painting or drawing of the kalamkari, he responded that the women do the more tedious parts—like the filling-in of outlined areas and backgrounds.

Kirit Chitara, kalamkari artisan from Gujarat India,
at the virtual workshop.

Kirit showed several of his kalamkari textiles (like the one below) during the workshop. Pieces made by Kirit and other textile artisans participating in the Selvedge World Fair can be seen and purchased on the Selvedge website. The kalamkari items start on page 12.

Close-up of one of the kalamkari textiles made by Kirit Chitara.

Kudos and thank you to the Selvedge magazine team for coordinating and hosting this virtual event! The lectures, workshops, show-and-tell sessions, and the streaming video at the weaving village were full of information about textiles, culture and the creative artisans and entrepreneurial businesses involved with preserving, sustaining, supporting and sharing these textile traditions.

With a 6:45am login, a freshly brewed cup of coffee in hand, I was able to participate in this amazing, worldwide textile extravaganza in my own home in the US. It doesn't get any better than that!

Make Nine Challenge 2020

Yep, I'm taking the Make Nine Challenge again this year! I participated in Make Nine 2019 and was [mostly] successful. I also learned from the amendments I made in my list to better plan for this year.

My Make Nine 2020. #MakeNine

Make Nine 2020
In 2020, I'm being more flexible and open-ended in my list. This will allow for a serendipitous project, pattern or inspiration that may catch my eye during the upcoming 12 months. In no particular order, here are my project goals:

• Pillowcases: I made several pillowcase sets for gifts last year. This year, I'm going to treat myself with some—and hopefully not wait for the holidays before they're complete.
• Kalamkari: I have yardage of beautiful hand stamped kalamkari fabric from Diamond Textiles. It's been in my stash for the better part of last year (already pre-washed) and I want to create something wonderful with it to wear.

Kalamkari fabrics from Diamond Textiles.

• Knitting: Inspired by my yarn rep friend, Joan, I got back into knitting last year. A knitting project was included in Make Nine 2019 and is again this year. The plan is for it to be a yarn stash buster.
• Portable yarn project: I'm thinking about a small, fun, portable knit or crochet project to use my stash of small balls of leftover yarns. Maybe play with stitch patterns on dishcloths.

In progress MixIt top using rayon fabric from Art Gallery Fabrics.

• Rayon top: This was on the 2019 list, but was not completed because the weather turned cold and my project choice was a short sleeve top—the Mixit from The Sewing Workshop. The project has been forwarded to the 2020 list.
• UFO finish: Let's face it. I complete more projects that have a deadline. One of my UFOs will make it across the finish line this year.

Quilts for Kitties.

• Charity: I have two organizations that I support with handmade quilts. One is through my quilt guild and the other is the Cat Clinic of Chattanooga.

Australian aboriginal cotton prints from M&S Textiles Australia.

• Two Wild Cards: I've given myself two open boxes to fill this year. I'm on the lookout for an appropriate project to create something with my natural dyed fabrics. The fabric is too special to settle for something less than ideal.
       I also have a stash of lovely Art Gallery knits and cotton prints form M&S Textiles Australia that I'd like to see become garments. 

Anyone else up for a gentle nudge to make and finish things this year? Join the Make Nine Challenge 2020! It's a good platform on which to focus a small list of things you'd like to accomplish. Rochelle [the founder of Make Nine] at Home Row Fiber Co. offers some helpful tips for choosing your projects.

I'm hoping to make several of my wishes come true and move a few UFOs into the "done" pile.

------

The final recap of 2019 Make Nine:

1. Picasso Top. I substituted with the Odette Top, another Wiksten top, and the Cottage Shirt. Finished
2. Collins Top. Finished
3. Jacket using Diamond Textiles yarn-dyed wovens. Finished
4. Lolita Vest (a yarn project). Finished
5. Pillowcases. Finished
6. Tote or project bag with a zipper was the Zippy Pouch using an orphan quilt block. Finished
7. Wiksten Top, a project incorporating vintage textiles, recycled or re-purposed elements. Finished
8. Project with visible hand stitching. Finished
9. Wild Card—something using rayon fabrics was carried forward to 2020 Make Nine. I made 2 pair of Valencia pants instead. Finished