The Dyer at his very simple station in front of his shop
There is one thing about Pakistan that I really love and that is you can get practically anything made to your specifications. The vast majority of clothes are tailor-made, so anything you can think up, you can get made. It doesn’t always turn out the way you want, but considering that it costs three times less to get a full Pakistani Kameez Shalwar (lit. ‘Shirt Pant) suit made than it does to get my trousers taken up an inch in Australia – I’m not complaining!
Inside the pakced dyers shop
It is also commonplace to get cloth, shawls or anything really dyed to meet your colour needs — and the other day I went with my mother-in law to the dyers to get a shawl. My mother-in law always goes to the same dyer, who is a young man, but skilled in what he does. His little shop is packed to the roof with different shawls, plain cloth for dying and more shawls.
As a ‘gori’ (white chick/foreigner) I am not well versed in the subtleties of buying cloth, but my mother-in law is an old hat at it, and goes through tens of different cloth, which all look the same to me until she finds one that is the right feel — the dyer regularly has to unpack loads of his nicely folded cloth for women to inspect in order to get that exact right piece — it’s quite a process just to get one scarf!
The Dyes
It is one of my favourite things to watch the dyers working, because the setup is so infinately simple, yet they produce the most vibrant and sometimes complex designs and colours and make it look so simple! Actually it is a favourite thing of mine in general to watch people who are skilled at their craft, because it reminds me that there is Art in everything.
Some dyed shawls, and the dyers overlocker - a real multi-tasker!
Interesting! You are fascinated by things we consider trivial and common here obviously because we are used to it whereas for you everything of this sort is different and new. Knowing how you see all this gives pleasure!