The Stitching Project

Day two in Pushkar was quite different to day one. We had arranged to go and visit The Stitching Project in a village just up the road - it's run by Fiona and her husband Praveen, and is a collective employing local people to make ethical clothing. You can look them up here: www.the-stitching-project.com/home

Finding it was interesting because there are no maps or roadsigns, so Shyam drove out of Pushkar, past the nomads selling grass for cows and all sorts of other things, through the desert, 

and in the general direction of the village, asked for directions (probably along the lines of 'do you know an Australian woman who lives near here'), picked up a local man as a guide, and off we went to find the workshop.

We had a warm welcome from Fiona and Praveen, who were happy to chat about the aims of their project, how they got started and what they're up to today. A textile artist, Fiona has set up the workshop to bring work to local women in the village, that can be fitted in around family life, and enables them not to have to look for work further afield.

This lady is a new supervisor, learning the projects so she can work directly with the women working from home, and the blackboard gives the day's schedule.

They source ethically produced fabrics - many are Khadi or homespun fabrics, produced locally on hand looms in 11 metre lengths,

print them using traditional skills but contemporary designs, 

and then make clothing and homewares, using their own fabric and recycled saree silk and cotton. This garment is a cross between a wrap and a waistcoat - it's got armholes so that it doesn't fall off when you move. It has been hand stitched at home by one of their ladies, and this man is finishing the binding.

Much of the hand stitching is outsourced to local women, whilst the block printing, cutting, machine stitching and finishing is done by the end at the workshop. 

Even the coat hangers for shows are decorated with saree silk off-cuts, and the packaging is done in a tiny room. There is stock everywhere, but the men know exactly when to find most things. 

Indigo dyeing in done by a local dyer, 

and blocks are cut to Fiona's designs by another local man. 

He apparently took a lot of convincing to cut what he saw as imperfect blocks for Fiona's designs, which have a lovely hand drawn quality about them. He wanted to line everything up and make perfect squares and circles.

There is also unintentional art to be found on the workroom walls and the drop cloth - oh to have a workroom space like this - I think the key is keeping it uncluttered!

Garments and other products carry a label identifying who made them, and also the CraftMark for kantha stitching.

We spent a happy half an hour looking through the garments for sale and playing dressing up, and inevitably came away with some purchases. This lady is just adding some buttons to my top.

They sell their products through trade fairs, but also through Etsy and their own website - have a look ...

https://www.etsy.com/in-en/shop/TheStitchingProject?ref=hdr_shop_menu

https://www.etsy.com/in-en/shop/TastyOldChooksClothz?ref=hdr_shop_menu 

Our morning ended with a roti making lesson and a shared lunch. 

Having been made very warmly welcome by everyone, we left for the long drive to Jodhpur. The road was interesting because it was not a 'highway'. Instead it ran across open countryside 

through local villages and towns, each one seemed to specialise in a different trade or craft - scrap metal and lorry repair, tyre recycling, quarrying, where trailers were beautifully stacked with stone blocks. 

It was also interesting because it was non-existent in places, with huge potholes and the obligatory speed bumps when you least expected them. They even caught Shyam out at times, and we were very glad it was him driving not us!

Rajasthani crafts - block printing

Rajasthan has many traditional crafts, including block printing (if you own an Indian style printed skirt it probably came from here), leather work using camel leather, hand paper making, carpet making, precious and semi-precious stone jewellery, miniature painting and Jaipur blue pottery. The local dress of the nomadic people is colourful, with block printed or tie-dyed fabric, shisha mirrors, bright colours and bangles, always bangles. 

While we've been in Jaipur we've had the opportunity to visit several local crafts workshops and also the Anokhi Museum of Block Printing   http://www.anokhi.com/museum/home.html.

Housed in a restored havelli in the shadow of the Amber Fort this museum shows the history of block printing, with examples of regional variations and stitched textiles.

Traditional designs

And contemporary ones

We saw the block-maker's designs

and watched blocks being carved

Then we had chance to have a go ourselves - this is a three-colour design. The maximum is seven colours.

Ingenious ink trays have wire mesh to prevent too much ink clogging the blocks

These colours are for the print below. just a simple two-block print, but very effective.

Also whilst in Jaipur we visited two other block printing workshops, the first in Amber, at a collective that also includes rug making (more in a later post). 

The guy on the left is making the first print in this three-block process ...

closely followed by his colleagues with blocks two and three. Registration is done by eye (there are hidden dots for the first block so spacing remains consistent) and they work so fast, making it look really easy (it isn't!).

A selection of blocks on display - the four below make up the elephant.

And here you can see the stages of printing. Because these are natural dyes, the colours are set in the sun, and gradually changes colour to the bright colour seen bottom right. Here the process was  speeded up using nitric acid; I think I prefer the undeveloped colours!

And finally a visit to a workshop in Sanganer village, now a suburb of Jaipur, which is well known for block printing, blue pottery and hand made paper. 

In this tiny shed fabric for duvet covers and pillow cases was being printed using three blocks. They kindly stopped to show is the process and let us have a go.

Fascinating! Even Shyam our driver couldn't resist a look through the window - either that or he was trying to hurry us up so we got to Pushkar before dark!

More pictures over on InStitches blog.

http://institchestextilecourses.blogspot.co.uk