Questions
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Ask a questionThe questions everybody asks
- What is the difference between aari work and maggam work?
- They are the same craft under two names. Aari is the word used in Tamil Nadu, maggam more in Andhra and Telangana. Both mean hand embroidery worked with a hooked needle on fabric stretched over a frame. If you have been searching for one and finding the other, you are in the right place.
- How much does aari work cost?
- Every piece is quoted on its own, because no two designs take the same number of hours. What moves the price is how dense the work is, whether it uses stones and beads or thread alone, how much of the blouse is covered, what the fabric is, and how soon you need it. Send a photograph of the design on WhatsApp and you will get a number rather than a range.
- How long does bridal aari work take?
- Usually two to three weeks, and longer for a heavy design. Lighter function and saree work is quicker. Book well before the wedding date - the weeks around a muhurtham season fill up early, and hand work cannot be hurried without it showing.
- How far in advance should I book for a wedding?
- Six weeks is comfortable. Four is workable for most designs. Under two weeks in the middle of a muhurtham season usually means either simplifying the design or being told honestly that it cannot be done - which is better than being told yes and finding out late.
- Can I bring my own blouse material?
- Yes, and most customers do. It is the usual arrangement and it costs less than having material sourced for you. If you would rather it was sourced, ask. If the blouse is being cut from a saree, bring the saree - where the border falls decides where the work should go.
- Can you copy a design I have seen?
- Send a photograph on WhatsApp - a screenshot from Instagram or Pinterest is completely normal - and you will get a straight answer on whether it can be done in the time and the budget you have. If the fabric or the timeline will not carry it, you will be told that rather than strung along.
- Is the work done by hand or by machine?
- By hand. The design is traced onto the fabric, the fabric is stretched on a wooden frame, and every bead, stone and length of zari is set in place one at a time with a hooked needle. Nothing is glued and nothing is run through an embroidery machine. That is why it takes weeks, and why two blouses from the same drawing are never identical.
- Will the stones and beads come off?
- Not if they are set rather than glued, which is the whole difference between hand aari work and the cheaper alternatives. Stones and beads are stitched in. Store the blouse in cloth rather than a plastic cover, get it dry-cleaned rather than washed, and it will outlast the fashion it was made for.
- Do you take work from outside Nagercoil?
- Yes - customers across Kanyakumari district, including Marthandam, Thuckalay, Kuzhithurai, Colachel, Kanyakumari, Eraniel, Padmanabhapuram, Suchindram and Karungal. Work is collected and returned rather than expecting you to travel twice.
- How do I send my measurements?
- The most reliable thing you can send is an old blouse that fits you well - better than a tape reading taken at home by somebody unused to taking one. It travels with the material and comes back with the finished piece. If you are near Nagercoil, come and be measured instead; for a bridal blouse that is worth the trip.
- Do you work on sarees, or only blouses?
- Both. Pallu and border work, a motif repeated from the blouse onto the saree, or lifting a plain saree you already own. A new blouse worked to match a saree you have had for years is one of the most common jobs there is.
- Can you match a blouse to a saree I already have?
- Yes, and it is usually the better idea. Bring or send the saree along with the blouse material so the colours can be matched in daylight rather than from a photograph - screens lie about gold and about maroon in particular.
- What fabrics can aari work be done on?
- Silk, raw silk, tissue, georgette, net, cotton and most blends. They do not all behave the same way under the needle: heavy stone work on a very light fabric needs backing, or the weight pulls the blouse out of shape after a few hours of wear. Send a photograph of the material with the design and this gets sorted out before the work starts, not after.
- Do you do lehenga, half-saree or children's work?
- Yes - half-saree and lehenga choli work for the functions around a wedding, and children's pattu pavadai worked to match a family set. Say at the start if you want several pieces to sit together, because a set is planned differently from a single blouse.
- Do you take small jobs, or only bridal work?
- Small jobs are welcome. A single motif at the neckline of an everyday blouse is a real piece of work and is done with the same care as a bridal piece. Nobody is turned away for wanting something modest done properly.
- Do you do plain blouse stitching without embroidery?
- Yes. Stitching on its own is available, as well as stitching and aari work together. Doing both together is the better result when you want embroidery - the design gets placed for your finished blouse rather than for a flat piece of cloth.
- How do I get the finished blouse?
- Collected in Nagercoil, or sent back to you across Kanyakumari district.
Bridal aari and maggam work
- Can you copy a bridal blouse design from Instagram?
- Yes, and it is what most people bring. Send the screenshot. Be ready to hear that the design was worked on a different fabric at a different scale and needs adapting rather than copying exactly - a design that fills the neckline of one blouse looks sparse on another.
- Should the reception blouse match the muhurtham blouse?
- They should look like they belong to the same bride without being the same blouse. Muhurtham work is traditional and heavier; reception work is lighter and has to photograph well under hall lighting, where heavy stone flares under a flash. Order both together if you can.
- How much of the blouse should be covered in work?
- Excellent work in three places beats thin work everywhere. Neckline and sleeves is the most common bridal choice and the best value for what is actually seen. Full front, back and sleeves is beautiful and heavy to wear for six hours.
- Do you work on the back of a bridal blouse?
- Yes, and it matters more than people expect - during a temple ceremony a great many of the photographs are of your back. If the budget stretches to one heavily worked area, there is a real argument for it being the back.
- What if my measurements change before the wedding?
- Tell us as soon as you know. Small adjustments are usually possible; a design already worked across a seam is much harder to move. This is one more reason to have the stitching and the work done in the same place.
Blouse and saree aari work
- Can you work on a saree I already own?
- Yes. A border lifted, a motif added to the pallu, or a plain saree brought back into use is one of the most common jobs there is. Bring the saree so the work can be planned around where the border already falls.
- How light can the work be and still be worth doing?
- A single well-placed motif at the neckline is a real piece of work and is done with the same care as a bridal piece. Light work is where shortcuts show, because on a plain blouse there is nowhere for a loose stitch to hide.
- Do you work on churidar yokes and dupattas?
- Yes - yokes, dupattas, and half-saree pieces. Say at the start if several pieces need to sit together, because a set is planned differently from a single garment.
- Can you match a new blouse to an old saree?
- Yes, and it is usually the better idea. Send or bring the saree so colours can be matched in daylight rather than from a photograph - screens are particularly unreliable about gold and about maroon.
Blouse stitching with aari work
- Do I need to come in person to be measured?
- Not necessarily. An old blouse that fits you well is the most reliable thing you can send, and more accurate than a tape reading taken at home. If you are near Nagercoil, being measured in person is worth the trip for a bridal blouse.
- Why have the stitching and the embroidery done together?
- Because the design is then placed for your finished blouse rather than for a flat piece of cloth. The neckline work lines up with the actual neckline, the sleeve motif sits where your arm is, and no seam runs through the middle of a design.
- Do you do plain stitching without any embroidery?
- Yes. Everyday blouses, lining blouses, or a set of several from the same material. Nobody is turned away for wanting a plain blouse stitched well.
- What happens if the blouse does not fit?
- Say so rather than living with it. Small alterations are straightforward when the work has not been cut across. If the material you brought is not enough for the cut you want, you will be told before anything is cut rather than after.
About the towns
- Can you stitch and work several blouses as a set?
- Yes. Sets come through regularly - three or four blouses in matching material for a family attending the same wedding, sometimes with a child's pattu pavadai worked to match. Say so at the start, because a set is planned differently from a single piece.
- Do you do reception saree blouses for church weddings?
- Yes, and a good share of the work from Marthandam is exactly that. A church wedding usually means a gown for the ceremony and a saree for the reception, so the hand work goes on the reception blouse - normally lighter than a muhurtham blouse, with more thread and less stone, which photographs better under hall lighting.
- Will the zari tarnish in the coastal humidity?
- Cheap zari will, and faster near the sea. Better-grade zari costs a little more and is the difference between a blouse that keeps for a decade and one that does not - worth asking about before the design is agreed. Storing it in cotton rather than a plastic cover matters just as much.
- Can you work a traditional design rather than something from Instagram?
- Yes, and a fair number of customers from Thuckalay and Padmanabhapuram ask for exactly that - peacock, mango, lamp and vine borders in gold zari rather than coloured stone. Those designs are older than any of the trends and they are what the craft was originally for.
- Can everything be settled over WhatsApp if I am far away?
- Everything except the fitting. Send a photograph of the design, a photograph of the material and the date you need it by, and you will have the cost and the timeline the same day. For measurements, an old blouse that fits you well travels with the material and is more reliable than a tape reading taken at home.
- Can a whole wedding party order together?
- Yes, and it is better planned as one job than as eight. The bride's blouse, her mother's and her sister's should sit together in the photographs without being identical, and that is a decision made at the start. Bring it up early, particularly around a muhurtham season.
- Can you work on an old silk saree?
- Often, but it has to be looked at first. Old fabric will not always take a heavy design, and forcing one onto it is how a good saree gets ruined. If that is the case you will be told before anything is started rather than after.
- Can you do something lighter for the hot months?
- Yes, and it is the most common request from this end of the district. A thread-heavy design with a smaller amount of stone at the neckline gives most of the effect and none of the weight. Full stone work through a long function in June is a punishment, whatever it looks like on a hanger.
- Can you work on a kasavu saree without burying the gold?
- Yes, and it is a harder brief than a heavily worked bridal blouse. Restrained gold work on an off-white ground shows every stitch and has no crowding to hide behind. It is also some of the nicest work there is, and it does not go out of fashion the way a stone pattern does.
- Can I see the work while it is on the frame?
- Yes, and for a bridal blouse it is worth doing. A design looks different traced flat than it does stretched on a frame, and changing a motif in the first week is easy where changing it in the third is not. Being in Nagercoil is the main practical advantage of ordering from here.
About the photographs
- Can I order exactly what I see in a photograph?
- Yes, though it is adapted rather than traced. Scale changes with the blouse and with the fabric, so a design that fills one neckline is adjusted to fill yours. Send the photograph and you will be told plainly what will change and why.
- Is all of this your own work?
- Yes. Everything in the gallery was worked here by hand.
- Why are there no prices on the photographs?
- Because the same design on a different fabric, at a different size, with stones instead of thread, is a different number of hours. A price on a photograph would be wrong for most people who read it. Send the design and get a real quote instead.
Getting in touch
- What should I send in my first message?
- Three things: a photograph of the design you like, a photograph of the material or saree if you already have it, and the date you need it by. That is enough to quote from and to say honestly whether the date is possible.
- How quickly will I get a reply?
- Send the photograph and the date, and you will get an answer as soon as it is seen. A phone gets put down for hours at a time while somebody is working at a frame, so if a message goes unanswered it is worth sending again rather than assuming the answer is no.
- Can I order over the phone instead of WhatsApp?
- Yes, though a photograph makes everything easier for both of us. A design described in words is almost always a different design from the one in your head.
- What is a design code and how do I use it?
- Every design in the catalogue has a code like TK-024. Sending that code on WhatsApp is faster and far more accurate than describing a blouse in words - it says exactly which design you mean, and the reply can go straight to what it would take and cost.
About us
- Who actually does the work?
- It is worked by hand here in Nagercoil rather than sent out to anybody else. The person you message is the person at the frame.
- Is there a shop I can visit?
- This is a home-based workshop rather than a shop front, which is why the address is not published. Being measured in person and handing work over are both arranged when you message.
Send the design and get a straight answer
A photograph of what you have in mind and the date you need it by is enough to quote from.