Two sari notes — I’ve finally given up on wearing heels with saris, and I’m pleased to note that after four hours of wearing these shoes yesterday (picked up at DSW), I wasn’t thinking about my feet at all, because they didn’t hurt.
There’s an expectation that you wear heels with saris, because you get a better drape with more inches, but it’s really just goofy to suffer for that, and in retrospect, I’m sorry I gave in to it for so long. Also, I’m 5’0″, and if I’m 5’2″, you know what? I’m still shorter than almost anyone else in the room.
The other thing I did yesterday was convert my favorite sari partway to a ready-made. This is going to be hard to explain to people who aren’t familiar with draping and tying a sari, but basically, there are two points where you’re doing pleating, and if you don’t do it right, the sari doesn’t look good, and in the worst case scenario, you’re stepping on the fabric, it’s falling off you, you need to rush to a restroom to try to fix it in the middle of an event — it can all be very stressful.
I watched a video that showed how to convert a normal sari into ready-made style, which has the pleats sewn in, making it much easier to get dressed. I did what she did (the video isn’t in English, but it was all clear), which took about 45 minutes, and now this sari is MUCH easier to put on.
I kind of want to re-do the shoulder stitching for the pallu pleats, because I’m not entirely happy with how I pleated it, but nonetheless, huge improvement. I can get dressed in this sari in 5 minutes now, instead of 30-45 (includes frustrated swearing time as I redo the pleats 2-3 times…). I expect I’ll be doing this with any sari I wear regularly.
Video I watched: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDkSteSeYAA
Now what I really want to do is learn how to add a pocket — this is a new trend for saris, adding either a hidden or visible pocket, and I LOVE it. Need to work on it on a day when I’m relaxed and have plenty of free time. Apparently you can also send your sari in to be converted to a ready-made with pockets now, but I’m not sure if there’s anyone in the U.S. who does that? Let me know if so!!!
Company that sells these and does conversions: https://www.aseemshakti.com/…
Article about saris with pockets: https://www.livemint.com/…/fashion-trends-sari-pocket…
Another: https://archive.nytimes.com/…/from-chennai-the-sari…/
