Saree Makeover

 

Supplies:

• Saree (a plain saree or a plain saree with simple borders) 
• Brocade fabric (two strips, 6" and 2.5 " wide. You need to join several strips to get the length that is enough to cover all borders)
• Sewing supplies (sewing machine, matching color thread, measuring tape, scissors, pins etc.)

You can do this makeover to a plain solid-colored saree or the one with simple borders. It requires two fabric strips to patchwork along the borders of the saree. I used a Kerala saree which had two borders of similar width. I decided to make the upper border to be narrow (1.5") compared to the lower border (5").

Decide how wide you need the borders to be, plus allow 1/2" for a fold on the edges of  the strips. (for eg: if you plan to make a 5" wide border, measure 6"  (5"+ 1/2"+ 1/2" ) to allow 1/2" for the fold on the edges of the strips.)

1) Cut several 6" wide strips from the brocade fabric and and trim any  fraying fibers from the edges.
 (Please note that the picture shown in this post are not drawn to scale)

2) Next step is to join strips together to make enough length to cover the entire bottom border of the saree. For that, lay two brocade strips with the wrong sides ("wrong side" implies the side to be not seen) together and pin them together. Make a seam around 1/2" from the edge.

3) Then turn the brocade strip right side out ("right side" implies the side to be seen) so that the seam will be hidden. Press/iron firmly. Repeat this until you get a strip of required length.

4) Place the brocade strip with wrong side up and fold 1/2" from all four edges and press/ steam along the fold. The long brocade strip, with edges folded is ready and just need to attach it to the saree.

5) Place the saree and brocade strip with the right sides up. Lay the strip over the bottom border, pin all the edges in place, and make a seam, 2-3 cm away and parallel to the edges. Remove pins as you sew along.

6) Repeat  the same for the upper border of the saree.
Here, I folded and sew the thin strip to show the thin golden border which was already on the saree. Finally, press nicely along the seam.