My mother, who stays with us, has a pile of old cotton saris she wants turned into jhablas and nappies for our son, the way it was done for me. The shop-bought ones feel stiff in this humid weather, so we're keen. Every tailor I've asked near Kondapur either does only blouses or wants to make it fancy. We need someone who will do plain, soft seams, nothing scratchy. Happy to go a bit further for the right person.
There was a lady in Nallagandla who worked from home and did cotton jhablas for my son when he was small. I don't have her number anymore, but the ironing man in our block knew her. Ask around the ironing stalls near you, they always know the home tailors.
My husband has a cloth shop in Abids, so I know this problem. Old saris are the softest, but check the border, zari borders scratch. Cut them off before you give. For new fabric you can buy mulmul by the metre, it is cheap and very soft after one wash.
my amma did exactly this for my daughter, just stitched them herself on her old machine. does your mom sew? even a basic machine is enough for straight seams
Turns out she does sew. She just didn't want to ask for a machine. We bought a basic one on Tuesday and she has finished four jhablas already. Tailor search called off, thank you.
We had the same stiff-clothes problem and ended up buying plain muslin from a shop in Gachibowli and getting a home tailor to finish the edges. Took two weeks, but they've lasted through two sizes 🙂
Asked my amma, she says a tailor near Attapur stitched nappies for my cousin's baby last year. She'll find out if he's still there and I'll update here.
This brings back memories. My ammachi turned old mundu pieces into nappies for both my boys. For a tailor, try the small shops behind any big sari showroom, the ones that do falls and pico. Many of them will do simple straight work if you explain what you want.
If the tailor search doesn't work out, some women's self-help groups take stitching orders like this. We got cloth bags made by one for my son's school event. Not sure if there's one near Kondapur though 🙂
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More from the parents who were here.