Fabric

I went fabric shopping about a week and a half ago, ideally i would have liked to use organic cotton and ahimsa silk but considering i cannot get a hold of that in this short period of time I decided to go for the next best thing : Khadi.

Khadi is Indian handspun and hand-woven cloth. The raw materials may be cotton, silk, or wool, which are spun into threads on a spinning wheel called a charkha. It is a versatile fabric, cool in the summer and warm in the winter. However, being a cruder form of material, it wrinkles much faster than other preparations of cotton. In order to improve the look, khādī is often starched to have a stiffer shape. It is widely accepted in fashion circles.]
Mahatma Gandhi began promoting the spinning of khādī for rural self-employment and self-reliance (instead of using cloth manufactured industrially in Britain) in 1920s India thus making khadi an integral part and icon of the Swadeshi movement. The freedom struggle revolved around the use of khādī fabrics and the dumping of foreign-made clothes.

I went to the khadi bandar on commercial street and was completely overwhelmed, there were piles and piles of fabric stacked up till the ceiling. i had no idea where to look. It was also very dark inside the store which made it hard to see the colours. Oh well, after looking through lots of different fabrics i picked a few. I bought 2 different colours of cotton silk, a piece of cotton and a piece of cotton jute (which has a lovely texture).

Once i was out i realised that i was not too happy with one of the pieces of cotton silk, it's a bit shinier than what i was going for. Im still using it some way or another though.