Monday in New Delhi, after shopping, we spent some time at the India Gate, one of the largest War Memorials in India.  It honors the 90,000 Indian soldiers who lost their lives fighting for the "British Indian Army" in both WWI and the Afghan Wars:



There are more pictures to be processed from our drives around New Delhi, but there are many more not taken.  It is unspeakably hot right now and taking pictures from speeding air-conditioned cars is a fruitless exercise.

Most of the remainder of today's blog is for the fiber enthusiasts, but first here's today's portrait.  This is Cali, Jenny's sister:




I wrote about the fabric store experience.  Here's the fabric.  This piece is about 2 1/2 yards of fabric with an overall woven pattern.  The first yard or so is embellished .  All ready to make up into a long tunic.  I folded the piece a little higher than the neckline embellishment.  Even I can figure out how to sew this, but I won't.  I'm having this and the following piece sewn up in Aurangabad where we go on Saturday.  I love the concept of the surface design being added before the fabric is cut.

On a line with the neckline, perhaps 10" or so in either side (I'm not unpacking that darn thing one more time and I forgot to measure <grrr> is the embellishment for the sleeve.  The rest of the fabric is not embellished at all, ergo the back will be plain.



One sleeve selvedge laying on the second piece of fabric from which the pants will be made:



Reverse side, showing cloth construction and loops.  Fabric is not, and does not need to be, reversible.  The tunics themselves are very simple in design and very comfortable.  They are worn with pants and a coordinating chiffon scarf.  The scarf that came with this material is plain, but they are often quite ornate.



The purple fabric is about 4 1/2 yards long.  The image is of the bottom of the front.  The same floral design covers the rest of the front.  I guess this means I get to choose a neckline treatment.  You can see the simple bottom edge.  Some fabric sets had much more ornate bottom edges.  The back of the tunic will be plain, I don't think there's any special sleeve treatment (packed it away).  The remaining 2 yards of fabric are for the pants. 

 

This image is of the coordinating and more elaborate scarf:

 

Finally, here's a simple cotton top which I wore with jeans.  (Indian women wear both simple and elaborate outfits regardless of the occasion--makes a great feast for the eyes on a daily basis.)  I couldn't figure out what the flaps of fabric were!  They are sewn into three outfits I bought .  Either in the back of the neck or the side seam, where a label is often located.  Duh, they're sleeves! One can choose whether to have them sewn in, or not.



(For inquiring minds, here's the purchasing math:  4 ready made tunics, 3 pairs of pants, 6 independent scarves, fabric for 2 3-piece outfits and fabric for 2 men's shirts to be sewn in Aurangabad, 2 women's tunics being altered and 7 men's shirts being tailored as I type.)