The secret of safety pins ?

Khandoma

Namaste Friends,

I have a question for the ladies living or having lived in India, and dressing locally on a daily basis.

8 years ago, I had kept those salwar kameez pants up with one single tiny safety pin. A western safety pin. It had been so easy that I never had a belt stitched into it.

8 years later, I put my trust in Indian engineering and steel expertise and walk out of my hotel with the same outfit, kept tight with 4 big safety pins and two small ones. Indian pins. Five minutes later I feel my pants going down on my knees. All the pins had popped open.

No, I didn't put on that much weight in 8 years - you could still fit three people like me into those pants. I tried with more pins, same result, then stopped digging holes in the fabric (not to mention attracting a lot of attention ) and had a belt stitched.

But I'm curious. I know that sometimes, elegant Indian ladies use safety pins to hold their saris in place. Do you do it with the salwar pants too ? Do you use a lot of pins in either case ?
What am I doing wrong ?

Thanks for your help !

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Khandoma
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anar

never heard of anyone using safety-pins to hold up a salwar! my mother used a 'nada' (as did everyone else who wore them) - it's a rope-like string that goes in one end and comes out the other - you know, drawstring fashion. the same with petticoats worn under a sari. this way, you keep it as lose or tight as you find comfortable.

Nick-H

I'll give the ladies another few hours to answer, shall I?

Lest I get a really bad name around here.

By the way, here's something that occurred to me once, vaguely on this subject...

Q. What's the most romantic thing an Indian woman can wear on the chain around her neck when you are alone together?

A. The safety pin from her sari fall

... and, seeing has how another guy has answered anyway:

Yes, the answer is no. They tie with the string thing, made from a length of fabric tape, or even scraps of fabric twisted and sewn by the tailor.

Same for male pyjama-style pants.

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anar

oh oh, looks like i've given myself a bad name! i guess as a gay man i can get away with it, hehe.

brownboy66

and namaste to you as well! oh dear.... , but glad to see you survived the experience. I'll be interested to see what the experts come back with myself as the whole thing looks like fiendish puzzle to me.

you brave, brave, man.......

nayan

sarees - yes
salwar/churidar - never.

BTW I am Indian lady (though not very elegant)

Nick-H

Maybe as a married man, I can too!

karuna

I was waiting for someone with more experience to reply too and now nayan has I can say I've never (in my brief but varied history of punjabi suit wearing) used safety pins. Just the little drawstring which is tied in a specific way that I always have trouble remembering.

I'm not sure how you'd use pins?

They were invaluable for sari wearing though (an extreme sport I gave up quite quickly after nearly unravelling completely in a restaurant. And that was with pins).

EDIT: I tell a lie, I pin my dupatta, but that's because I have no shoulders and it just slides off if I don't.

nayan

the dupatta - if it is to be pleated neatly (as schoolgirls do)across the shoulders- then safety pins are used.
adult women will usually not have such neat pleats (as mentioned above - it looks school uniformish). So pins not required. it is bunched around the neck.

karuna

I know that's how it works in theory. I think I've just not got the right stance or walk for it. I was going to reference the school-girl look, but that's an insult to those neat little girls- even pinned mine's generally a mess.

Prashant.M

Salwar Kameez is also worn by the guys. Of course the fabric, color, style, cut or whatever it is called is different and more masculine. As other's have mentioned it is also held up or tied using a drawstring. I have also seen some elastic versions.

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Aishah

Khandoma - your post reminds me of a movie in my mother's time and I vaguely think she took me to it as a little girl because these images are fairly clear still in my mind. It was called The Perils of Pauline if i recollect and it centred around the fact her knickers kept falling down in very public places!
Well, for sure you discovered your salwars doing the same! No, as everyone including all men have posted nobody uses safety pins. They thread a cotton nada or dhoorie (round tape)through the waistband. This has the benefit of being cooler in hot times than elastic. Check your salwars and see if there is an opening centre front where you would thread this through. If not, they haven't been made properly!
Karuna - I can never get that specific way - the men have the drawstring stitched together after it has been threaded and then they do this thing with it. I leave two ends loose, put knots on the ends so they don't get lost inside the casing, and then tie normally with a bow. Pros and cons for the former method - it's supposed to be a rapid pull undone, but sometimes it seems to go into a horrendously difficult tight knot that you need to prise apart with a screwdriver!

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karuna

Aishah that sounds like a movie you wouldn't forget in a hurry!

I was told to tie the two loose ends together, and then you kind of divide it in two, like two loops, and knot those. Or something. It's a really sensible method that is quick and easy to undo but every time I have to stand there staring dumbly at it for a bit before my brain kicks in.

I must confess to slobbing around the house in a punjabi suit here in the UK- I work from home and it's so comfortable. But, shockingly, I don' bother with the dupatta. Half-dressed!

Aishah

Since the thread is about safety pins - baby nappy pins would be good, guaranteed not to come undone. And i have a feeling that sari pins sometimes have the same principle of the pushing head after where the pin clips in.
Dupattas - a pain in the neck as you indicate! I wear mine over one shoulder, but in really hot time, they are too hot; and in cold weather I never wear them, just the jacket over the salwar kameez.

Nick-H

But then it is called kurta pyjama, jibba, etc, according to the style, isn't it? I have never heard the words 'salwar kameez' being use in connection with male dress.

In this part of the world, the 'respectable' way of wearing the duppata is folding it in a v-shape over the chest. Thus modesty is preserved! A young girl who wants to show off her figure will wear it around her neck.It has to be hidden inside the blouse, so a smallish, simple pin will be used.