Young at art

Fashion design student V.G. Dharsheeni uses her crafting skills to help others

February 27, 2015 08:09 pm | Updated 08:09 pm IST

V.G. Dharsheeni, student of Fashion Technolog at Jamal Mohamed College, Tiruchi, shows some of her work. Photo: B. Velankanni Raj

V.G. Dharsheeni, student of Fashion Technolog at Jamal Mohamed College, Tiruchi, shows some of her work. Photo: B. Velankanni Raj

Dabbling in art and embroidery has been second nature to V.G. Dharsheeni from early childhood, when she’d dismantle bead necklaces and try to re-assemble them on her own. “I used to get scolded by my mother for that, but somehow, I’d always want to make something with my hands,” says the cheerful second-year student of B.Sc Fashion Technology at Jamal Mohamed College.

Dharsheeni’s parents had wanted both their daughters to become engineers, but the girls clearly had other things on their wishlist. “My sister went into computers, while I decided to take my interest in embroidery to a more professional level with this course,” she says.

Today the young woman is known for prize-winning craft work (terracotta and thread jewellery, paper quilling, machine and hand-embroidery, cushion making and glass painting to name just a few) and also her decision to use her skills to help disadvantaged students.

Dharsheeni is sponsoring the fees for a needy first-year student (she has paid Rs. 26,000 so far) and also funding her own educational expenses with the help of the craft classes that she holds at her home at Bheema Nagar. She also undertakes embroidery orders, the sale proceeds of which go towards charitable causes.

A normal day for Dharsheeni starts at 7 a.m., after which her students come for their three-hour session from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The courses cost from Rs.2500 and upwards, depending on the craft being taught. Work materials are inclusive of the fees.

After attending evening college from 2 p.m. to 6.30 p.m., Dharsheeni returns home, completes her class projects, and then leaves to shop for materials for her own students. After dinner, she works on completing the embroidery orders that often keep her awake past midnight.

“There’s a great demand for embroidered clothes in Tiruchi, but there aren’t enough needleworkers around,” says Dharshini. “I have offered to teach some poor students in my college free of charge, so that they can earn a living and support themselves and their families.” She feels there’s no age to start learning embroidery, but a student needs to keep practising to get perfect and uniform results.

“Garment production has become automated, and even in embroidery, you can buy readymade patches and accessories that you can simply stick on to the clothes. But over time, only a hand-embroidered piece will last without the threadwork getting damaged,” she says. “Even if you have outgrown a hand-embroidered sari blouse, you could simply cut the embroidered portion and re-attach it to a new piece of cloth.”

Dharsheeni extends this idea to her own applique work, for which she cuts out motifs from old silk saris, and uses overlaying stitches to attach them in attractive new patterns.

Having spent a lot of money to formally learn crafts, Dharsheeni feels the teacher makes all the difference. As she expertly outlines a leaf pattern in aari stitches for a student, she shares ideas on the ideal posture to ensure proper tension between the thread and embroidery hoop. Then she pulls the stitches out and asks the student to restart the process by herself.

Dharsheeni is a dab hand at making soft toys, glass paintings, petal art, repurposing used X-ray films into artwork and so on … “but I’m passionate about embroidery,” she says. Dharsheeni also knows henna-designing, and often holds short craft courses at city colleges.

The early misgivings that her parents had about her choice of subject seem to have vanished now.

As Dharsheeni’s mother Jayalakshmi says, “She has become more conscious of the people around her, and her own responsibility towards society. Maybe engineering would have not given her this wide perspective or self-sufficiency.”

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