My mother received a sari as a gift from family friends in India. It was a black sari made from thick cotton, with a beautiful gold and red kanjeevaram border in a paisley design. Neither my mother nor I wear saris so we decided to make good use of this one to make clothes we do wear. And because a sari is a lot of cloth, we could make two items of clothing from it. So we showed it to my friend Sajida who owns Saji's Couture, and she suggested that we make a top for mom, and a maxi skirt for me with the border at the hem. I LOVED the idea. I knew that a maxi skirt from this material would have an amazing fall and flare.

But once stitched, I didn't know it would look this good. The heaviness of the thick cotton gives the skirt a beautiful "A" shape, and the lace border makes the hem defined and gives the whole skirt structure. Although it doesn't flow as much as a thinner fabric would, I love the fall and the skirt is stitched to look big and make a statement. It still moves with you as you walk, and feels very elegant. Even though the cotton creases easily, the shiny silk kanjeevaram lace border makes the whole skirt look glamorous. I'm sure this simple combination of black cotton with the golden border would look stunning when worn as a sari. 

I wore it with a mustard sweater and a green top inside, with the collar peeking through. The mustard shade contrasts against the black and goes with the gold in the border of the skirt. The green is a glimpse of bright colour in all the rich winter colours of black, deep red and mustard. 

The only way I could have worn a sweater with this skirt is because the waistband is adjustable. It's a metal hook with lots of loop pockets at different intervals so you can make the waistband lose or tight. Genius. My gripe with skirts in winter is that I can't tuck sweaters in. I've asked Sajida to make this type of waistband in all my skirts from Saji's Couture from now on. If I had one complaint, it would be that the skirt doesn't have pockets. And Sajida promised me she'll put pockets in all my future SC dresses, skirts and pants. 

I accessorized with pretty gold earrings with mustard and orange colours that were given to me by an aunt in India. A big ring and a golden watch completed my accessories. 

On another note, this year has been stupendous. For me, it has been one of the worst years of my life mainly because our beloved older cat, Snarf, passed away in June. Other than that devastating incident, it has been a good eventful year. Like one of my colleagues said- it was a year where many, many bad things happened, but also many good things happened. And I know that sounds like every year in the history of years, but for it being a personal period for an individual, it's true. For me, usually, every year is good. This year so many things happened. It's been an emotional ride. I've had weeks that have felt three years long. Old routines fell away, leaving behind chaos and worry. New ways of thinking had to be adopted. I had to learn that not everything can be controlled and that sometimes, that's amazing. Because life can then give you a pleasant surprise. And I'd like to think the same way for the next year. 

What about you? How was this year for you?

Until next time

xoxo