Blouse Marking and Work Complete Beginners Tutorial

This post will help the beginners understand and learn the basic marking from a measurement blouse and to do aari embroidery for a blouse completely.

First take yours or get the clients correct blouse. Iron it before you start taking the measurements.

From the measurements blouse we need only three measurements for the back neck.

1. Blouse height
2. Back neck height
3. Shoulder

For blouse height keep the blouse straight without any shrink and take the measurements. Don’t pull the blouse or hold it while taking the measurements.

See that the shoulders are equal and take the measurements.

Usually height will be 13-14inches M-XL for body size around 32-42. If the clients are healthy and around 44-50inches or XXL-4XL then height would be 15-16. (These measurements are given for reference purpose for beginners). It may vary for each client and according to their body size and shape.

Next measure the back neck height. Keep the inch tape straight and take the measurements. Incase if the client has requested to increase or decrease from the measurement blouse you can consider that.

Next keep the blouse on the table and put the front hooks of first and last one and take the shoulder measurements. Make sure the neck is not wider. This is the most commonly made mistake by beginners. Keep the neck and shoulders correctly and take the measurements.

Once all three measurements are ready take the blouse piece that you are going to work and fold it into equal halves. The edges should be in the opposite side and the folding should be your side. (If it is back hook it is vise versa).

Now start with the marking. Check if the edges in the bottom (ie) towards your right hand side is even. If it is not even draw a line to make it even and mark one inch from the even line drawn for the folding.

Now from that one inch line drawn mark the height of the blouse 13 or 14 whatever is taken.

Similarly mark the same measurements after 3-4 inches and draw a straight line for the shoulders.

Now in that straight line mark the shoulder measurements.

Now divide the shoulder measurement which we have taken from the blouse by 2 (4.5/2=2.25). Now mark that measurements of 2.25 on the straight line drawn.

Usually it is around 2.25-3 inches. For boat neck blouse it is different. But for any other neck shapes if the measurements are less than 2.25 or more than 3 inches check again with the measurements you had taken from the blouse. Body measurements I will explain in the next post.

Now connect the shoulder marking line and the blouse height line to form a square. In that square you can draw any neck design as required or keep it as square neck. In this blouse we are making it a wider u neck.

Once the shape is drawn highlight it and open the fabric and fold it on the other side and tap the line highlighted.

This is the easiest and commonly used method to draw the neck shapes and for cutting by tailor and cutting masters.

Highlight the other half line and now back neck drawing is ready and then draw a double line with 0.25 inches gap for folding and stitching for neck finishing.

The second line drawn should be the line to complete the final work of embroidery.

Do not proceed the line as the shoulder will go closer after stitching. This measurements and drawing is more than enough for a simple design for around 1-1.5 inches.

Next keep the measurements blouse on the fabric straightly and opposit side to the back neck draw and mark the measurements from center to the shoulder for the front neck.

After marking the line immediately draw the second line with 0.25 inches for folding and stitching like we have done for the back neck.When you draw the front neck it should be opposit to the back neck drawn. Refer the below pictures.

Next fold the other side of the blouse into equal halfves and mark the center.

So one half is one sleeve and the other half is for other sleeve. From the first half again mark the center position.

From the center mark the sleeves circumference taken from the measurement blouse in equal halfves on both the sides. As the measurement is 6 inches mark equally on both sides from the center and the total will be 13 inch.

Make sure below half inch fabric is left for folding and stitching. If you have borders you can just highlight it.

Now the complete marking for the back neck, front neck right half and the sleeves are done and the fabric is ready for work. Iron the fabric and fix it on the frame tightly as much as possible.

Once the frame is tight is it easier to work and also the finishing would be good. The beads will not become loose after removing the frame. While fixing pull the fabric slowly and gently to avoid any damages. This is the only draw back in using frame as the fabric gets damaged otherwise it is very comfortable to work. You can still pull the fabric in the upper part of the neck as it goes in cutting but make sure the down part is not damages as it will be shown after stitching.

After fixing the frame start with the chain stitch from the second line drawn.

As this is a simple and continuous design no tracing is required. Beginners can easily try this design without any cutting or tracing knowledge. While doing the first line chain stitch make sure it is on the line drawn and the shape of the neck comes out correctly as all the other stitches are based on the first line. Complete three lines of chain stitch and next a bead line.

You can use sugar beads or bunch beads or any colour beads of your choice or matching to the saree colour. Make sure to use the right materials like the gold zari, antique zari, dull gold zari, copper zari and so on. There are 15+ shades in zari and matching to the saree colour you can use it for your work. To buy aari embroidery materials check the material page and shop it. All the materials are premium quality and the same as we use it for our bridal blouses. Use the machine thread and needle size 23 or 24 for bead work. Start with the back lock chain and continue the work and make sure the end not is stronge as well because if the thread it cut, all the beads will be removed. Also use only one beads or max two beads for a stitch so the work is more stronger.

After the bead work complete double chain stitch.

And again a bead line. You can use a bigger bead for the second line. Use only one bead at a time and put a chain stitch. Complete the line and put a knot.So a simple bead work is completed and you are easily charge 550 for this design.

Same work you can complete for the front neck and sleeves. For the border you can just single beads and highlight it.

For sleeves you need to attach any extra fabric like the lining cloth or any cotton fabrics to fix the sleeve part in frame. You can stitch the edges using machine or with running stitches.

In PriSara the starting range of the blouse is Rs.550. To book an appointment and get your blouses customised contact 8951212424.

For video explanation in Tamil check below

https://youtu.be/xBVzWt1t5-Y

For video explanation in English check below