Growing up, my grandma taught me to sew. She is a retired home economics teacher and a talented seamstress (She is still the first person I go to for help when I need clothes hemmed). The first piece I remember making with my grandmother was a pink purse. I remember I would always push the foot accelerator pedal too hard, causing the sewing machine to move too fast -too fast for me to control. My grandma joked to my mom that if I was so lead-footed with the sewing machine pedal, my mom would need to be careful when I started learning to drive a car. (Ironically, when I eventually started learning to drive in an empty parking lot, I was afraid to drive over 5 mph). I enjoyed the creativity of sewing and creating something new from fabric. Recently, I had the opportunity to try clothing design, and this experience has re-inspired me to start learning to sew again after a 10-year hiatus.
Last week was my third week on the project CraftHER by Swara - Voice of Women. Located in Kerala, India, the project is centred around traditional Indian handicrafts in a variety of trades and the amplification of the talented women artisans in these spaces. Our project cohort, comprised of six students from universities worldwide, is travelling around Kerala and working with different partner organisations.
During the third week of the project, we travelled from Thiruvananthapuram to Kottayam to work with Swara – Voice of Women. Swara is an ethical fashion brand based in India with the purpose of uplifting and amplifying women in Indian handicraft sectors. Collaborating with a talented team of women tailors partnered with Swara, we designed a mini clothing collection in pairs. In Week 1, we visited a co-op of talented women weavers in Chendamangalam. While we were there, we bought handcrafted handloom fabric to use to create our mini-collection designs.
My partner, Ellie, and I had never designed clothing before. I was a bit overwhelmed by the prospect – not quite knowing where to start. Based on the fabric we had already bought in Chendamangalam, we decided we wanted our collection to be fun, playful, and nostalgic for summer childhood clothes.
On our first full day in Kottayam, we went to a fabric store to pick up any additional fabric we would need for our designs. Going into the store, we had a rough outline for our collection. Still, surrounded by shelves filled with stacks of fabric twice our height, we changed our plan several times while we were there (trying to match the colour pink is deceptively difficult).
Eventually, however, we found fabric to complete the final piece planned for our collection. Visiting the fabric store made us think more concretely about what we wanted for our collection. When we left, we had a clearer idea of our designs, even though we only got fabric for one design. Although the amount of fabric options was initially overwhelming, the physical constraints of the fabric available at the store and that we had already bought ended up helping with the creative design process, with different fabrics acting like prompts for our collection.
The next day, after being greeted by a warm welcome, we got to know many of the women tailors at Swara. It was inspiring to hear these women's stories and how they came to work with Swara. After having lunch with these women, we travelled to a woman-founded, -led, and -run tailoring unit that Swara works with to get started creating our collections. We were shown a demonstration of their sewing machines. I immediately noticed the speed and control with which these talented women command their machines and fabric. Based on my limited stitching experience, I was very impressed by their skills.
I learned a lot about communication while working on our collection. We needed to communicate and collaborate with the tailors to transform our ideas and initial sketches into pieces of clothing. This was challenging because Ellie and I, not being fashion designers, did not know the best/correct way to explain our designs or what questions or decisions to anticipate about the details of designs. There were many details we did not think about before we started working with the tailors. The language barrier added an extra layer of difficulty to the design process because we had to communicate with the tailors through a translator. As a STEM student and aspiring scientist, clear communication in all mediums (verbal, written, and visual) is vital. I will undoubtedly carry forward the skills and lessons about clear communication that I learned from this experience.
During our 3 days at Swara, we designed 3 pieces: a skirt, top, and trousers. The final products looked just how we had imagined them! It was a unique experience to see something Ellie and I had imagined brought into physical reality by the incredible tailors. These women's skills, creativity, passion, drive, resilience, and work ethic were inspiring. I learned so much from working with them. We were working outside our comfort zone, and I am so grateful to them for their guidance, kindness, and patience.
Being surrounded by sewing machines and fabric this week reminded me why I enjoyed sewing when I first learned. It was fun flexing the creative muscle of creating a design (and then seeing Ellie and I's designs come to life). So, while I don’t think I have a career in fashion design, working with the talented tailors at Swara has inspired me to start sewing again.
Working on this mini-collection was a testament to the value and quality of handcrafted pieces infused with love, passion, and care. I saw almost the entire process that went into making our mini-collection, starting with the process of dying the cotton yarn at the dying unit, which is handwoven into beautiful textiles and then, finally, masterfully stitched into the final pieces. The only part of the process I didn't see was turning cotton plants into yarn. This unique experience has given me a deeper appreciation of all the people and skills that go into designing and creating anything.
Read more about some of the talented Swara artisans! https://swaravow.com/blogs/blogs/swarawoman-5-omana-chechi and https://swaravow.com/blogs/blogs/meet-bhanumati-the-ultimate-teacher
CraftHER is a proprietary project bringing scholars from around the world to study the intersection of traditional craft, feminism, and women’s amplification in Kerala, India. Created by Swara: Voice of Women, the project was established in 2024 with a cohort of 6 scholars but hopes to expand in forthcoming years. Follow @craftherbyswara on Instagram for more details and to follow along on our journey!