Megan Nielsen Brumby skirt in ikat

Ah deep pockets!  I loved Frobelina's version of this and I think that's what convinced me to give it a try, since I'm not super into skirts.

This is also part of what seemed interminable stripe-matching projects that I started in Seattle this summer.
Mainly I tried to match the colours so there weren't violent shifts between the dress/pocket/waistband.  I had to cut the front waistband in two instead of on the fold in order to do that, since ikat is always only 100cm wide and the purple was in the center. 
I also wasn't sure how the gathering would affect the stripe placement.

I cut a size S.
Sewing together was totally reasonable.  Gathering was painful, but I got the job done.  My ikat cotton is from Thailand - I got it from a shop in Chiang Mai.  I did not have much left over, and in fact the inside of my waistband is an old scrap which decidedly doesn't match. This ikat, being loomed, is 100 cm wide and so that was part of why I had to watch how I placed the stripes.

I got to the zipper and ran out of time in Seattle, so it took awhile to get back my skirt mojo and finish.  My interest in this project was waning fast and I pretty much doubted I'd like it by the time it was finished.  It fits really really well, but I don't like the gathered fabric over my butt, it's so fluffy!  I just can't see myself in this style of skirt.  Maybe if it were a really drapey, flowey fabric with no body, maybe then.  But it's just too much gathering for me.  

Luckily I found a friend who loves it!

Thai copy artists & ikat silk

My favourite pair of summer pants:

sorry very small picture

They are so threadbare that I was almost worried a copy would be too big because the fibers have relaxed a lot in the past five years of wear. I had debated copying them myself by taking them apart.  I was right to consider this an urgent matter, as later on this trip they fell apart spectacularly by ripping open across the entire bottom.

 Interestingly, the shop in Bangkok said that the tracing method is much easier than taking a piece apart.  I would assume it's less precise for some reason.

Copy number 1 is in a medium weight cotton:

Copy number 2 in silk Ikat from Bangkok:

Unfortunately I forgot to ask the guys to give me all my scraps.  I am pretty sad about that as I bought 1.5 meters.  Because of the width of the looms, thai silk is always about 1 meter wide, but I am pretty sure there was a lot left over.  The tailor cut on the cross grain to maintain the pattern and I was pleased with his pattern placement on the waistband and pockets.

Final opinion after wear:  I did this in the nick of time!  The waistband on both new versions is too big, but I'm hoping it'll shrink with a wash. It doesn't make them unwearable by any means.  They are of course stiffer than  my aged originals.  This copy project took two days!!  It cost me about $30 per pair, plus about $6 for the brown fabric.  Everything is finished nicely on the insides. I may regret asking for no belt loops because of this - I realised when they ripped that as the originals got looser they hung lower and lower on me, and fit less well. 

Unfortunately I was in a rush when I paid, so I can't tell you who the guys were in Bangkok that made my copies.  If you care, I can give you directions.  They were lovely gentlemen with good English, and they are good enough that they have clients in Switzerland and actually fly there to measure these dudes.  I think they aren't the cheapest out there - so far in Thailand there are sewists literally on every corner but I can't speak for the quality of everyone. 

Glutted on Textiles in Chiang Mai

Enough talking about fabric.  I don't usually take photos of people, of things in shops, or surreptitiously.  But here's the exception: a kaleidoscope of things I saw in Chiang Mai.  The children were all outside the Doi Suthep temple.  Because it was festival time in Chiang Mai, they were out of school and wore their ceremonial dress, possibly to try to get coins from tourists taking their picture.

Too bad I have nowhere to wear this amazing coat...

Hmong dress, modernised!

Silk Ikat, the blue pile.

Thailand & silk Ikat

It was only my first day in Bangkok but I sniffed out the fabric somehow.  I went into the Textile Museum, which is an exhibit off to the side of the Grand Palace.  The palace itself is hugely touristed and the ticket is for everything, but not everyone makes it into the museums.  In fact, it was hard to get to the textile museum - you had to go through the giftshop.  The result is that I saw all the silks before I read about them.

silks:

Thailand has a very interesting cultural history when it comes to ceremonial clothing.  Unlike other countries in the area, there is no traditional dress.  There was up to a certain point but it seems like when the country westernised in the 1900's, clothing didn't make the leap.  When the King and Queen were going to Europe in the 1960's, she commissioned Balmain, the Paris couturier, to design a wardrobe for her using elements that had been part of historical Thai dress, including accordioned skirts and draped half bodices.  The work was so successful that it sparked a number of events.

1. She kept wearing the outfits, and so now in the collective mind, they *are* Thai traditional dress.
2. Other people started wearing them too
3. In order to support textile production in the countryside, Queen Sirikit created a foundation, named SUPPORT, which does just that - it supports the processes of silk dyeing and weaving (along with other village crafts) according to traditional village methods.  Different areas have different techniques, but ikat is a traditional technique in Thailand and is still done in the villages, although by fewer young people.

I am hoping to go see some of these villages in a few weeks.  But in the meantime I couldn't resist the expensive Queen approved silks.  The prices were relatively high.  After seeing some of the stuff sold in Firenze I've redefined 'expensive fabric.'  But for the more lightweight Ikat it was 600-900 Baht (up to 25$/m) and for the heavierweights it was 1900 Baht ($60$/m.)

I got two pieces, and put one to use right away!