A festive day out with children in Thiruvananthapuram
Temple mornings, museum lawns and a sunset beach walk: an easy city day for families in their festive clothes.
How a pavadai is made in our Pulimoodu workroom
Cutting, lining, binding and checking: the eleven steps and three days behind every pattu pavadai we sell.
Every pattu pavadai we sell passes through the hands of four people in our workroom above the shop on MG Road. A full set takes about three working days from cutting to packing. It begins at the cutting table. Leela, who has been with us since 2018, lays the art silk and the cotton lining together and cuts them in one go, so the lining always matches the outer panel exactly. The border is cut separately and kept in a cloth bag, because zari snags easily on the table edge.
On the second day the skirt is stitched. The silk and lining are joined at the waist, the border is attached by machine and then hand-finished at the corners, and 5 cm of extra hem is folded inside and tacked loosely so it can be let down later. The waistband gets elastic and a cotton drawstring threaded through a separate channel.
The blouse takes longest. Puff sleeves are gathered by hand, every inside seam is bound with soft cotton tape, and 2 cm of allowance is left at each side seam for growing. Hooks are never used at the back; we use cloth-covered buttons that will not press into the skin.
On the third day each set is checked inside out under a lamp for loose threads and rough edges, pressed with a cloth between the iron and the silk, and folded in tissue. Twice a month our own children wear test pieces from each new batch for a full afternoon, and we change the pattern if anyone complains.
