The European nuns who ran the Catholic Missionaries in India introduced a number of arts and crafts through their educational institutions. This equipped a number of girls pursuing education in their convents to stand on their own feet. Coimbatore was under the yoke of the East India Company after the fall of Tipu Sultan in 1799 and thereafter became an important centre for trade and commerce due to its strategic importance. The Europeans began to cherish the town because of its salubrious weather, hospitable populace and proximity to the hills which yielded rich produce while also becoming a home away from home for them due to the chill weather conditions.
Coimbatore was quick to become the home for a number of institutions by the Franciscan Missionaries on Big Bazaar street and its extension, the Trichy road. Institutions like the Presentation Convent did yeoman service by skilling the financially depressed section of the society. A number of Coimbatoreans like the well known technocrat industrialist K.Venkatesalu put their kids in the St.Marys Convent on Trichy road. Prema Dhamodharan, the daughter of K.Venkatesalu recalled her days at the convent while sharing nuggets about her passion - embroidery and tailoring, "The nuns taught us needle work as a subject at school those days. Those were the times when machine embroidery was getting to become popular and women like my self taught mother Janaki used to help kids like myself during those formative years. Little did many of the girls realise that this could help them scale heights in the future."
Prema Dhamodharan got married to P.R.Dhamodharan, her cousin and a scion of the DPF family over 50 years ago while the idea that was sown in school was to germinate later. Years went by and with her two sons and a daughter getting busy with their education and sports, it was time for Prema to keep herself gainfully occupied. This resulted in the establishment of her boutique "Tots & Teens" at her residence at Circuit House road. Marketing was through word of mouth and she employed nearly half a dozen tailors besides dealing with some people on a job order basis. Slowly and surely the work delivered by her became well accepted and popular because of the high standards that were maintained by her. "The tailoring part was done from our place and some of the embroidery work was carried out in the residences of women who had been trained by the many European nuns who had left by then. It was a unique oppourtunity for people like me who could do business while also helping out some of skilled hapless women who were in need of financial support. I used to buy the needles and thread from shops like Novelty Stores those days. Besides I used to shop for stuff while on visits to other cities. A number of Japanese design cum instruction books came by because of my father's frequent trips to Japan. Over the years I specialised in hand embroidery and cross stitch. The designs and quality of work brought in a lot of good clientele. The work has given me a lot of success and contentment as well," smiles Prema Dhamodharan while chatting up from the verandah of her densely wooded bungalow.
Years of experience with the many facets of needle work like petit point, smocking, knitting, tatting, crochet, hand embroidery, cut work, cross stitch has made Prema Dhamodharan a much sought after person among the lovers of this kind of art cum craft. She spends a lot of time designing, doing traces, buying the appropriate needles, thread, frames and other items to execute the orders taken by her. A lot of efforts go into every aspect of the product and the result is simply fantastic. Over the years, the ever busy Prema Dhamodharan has made a lot of dresses, baby quilts with a little bit of embroidery and patch work, baby cribs, bags, cell phone pouches and wine bottle bags among a lot of other items which form a part of the bride's trousseau. Its interesting to learn that she has preserved several of her books, sketches and samples of work. Her collection includes some fine pieces of petit point, cross stitch and hand embroidery.
Prema Dhamodharan has recently got networked to a number of cross stitch specialists, thanks to gift of an ipad by her son Ramnarayanan who uses the best of technology to record nature. She is her ebullient self while talking about her interactions with the world of cross stitch, "I am part of a Cross Stitch Addicts group on Facebook thanks to the efforts of Valerie DaSilva. There are more than 5000 members in this group. We interact, exchange ideas, help each other out in the process. We basically get specialists study the design and structure the frame work for us. The specialists give us the specks and we follow their instructions while working on the pieces. Stitch - Along is one initiative were all the participants get to buy the basic design and work on it for some months. We compare and share notes. Every Wednesday, there is Work in progress analysis. Our group has a number of events and contests on a regular basis. Its amazing to learn that even Raja Ravi Varma's paintings have been made into cross stitch charts which can enable practitioners of this fine art re create the wonderful pictures. Every year an event in Moscow exposes people to a whole new world by show casing thousands of lovely pieces. Basically cross stitch was used to make tapestries in castles earlier. Its a beautiful art and craft form. I now feel that I should have got into it much earlier and cross stitch is fabulous stress buster."
Cross stitch addicts like Prema buy patterns from designers like Amanda Gregory. One of the designers Archana Puranik has in fact made a portrait of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the aid of cross stitch. Prema Dhamodharan talks about the ethics of her activity while also sharing details about some of the talented women in Coimbatore, "We make sure that our designs are ethically sourced from the authorised agents. There are a number of web sites which offer designs. This helps us get to ethically proceed with both cross stitch and hand embroidery. I work with a number of people and pay them well in order to ensure that this art cum craft form is nurtured. Coimbatore has a number of talented women from big families who are good with needle craft and they include Shantha Raghupathy (smocking) and Vanaja Dorairaj (hand embroidery) who pursue it as a hobby. A number of people among the elderly are happy and occupied because of the activities that are on the offer through groups like Cross Stitch Addicts. My grandson Gaurav, a prize winning nature photographer is a great support."
The conversation with Prema Dhamodharan gets all the more interesting when she displays her child like enthusiasm while showing off her collection and her works. She has made lovely pieces in cross stitch and framed them. Some of them are on display in her living room while many have been given away to her near and dear. She signed off with some points to ponder, "Promoting stuff like cross stitch and hand embroidery ensures the financial well being of a number of people who are in need of help. It nurtures talent among the well off and keeps them happy too. Either which way needle crafts like hand embroidery or cross stitch make people lead of life of joy and contentment." Enthusiasts will surely agree with her.
Coimbatore was quick to become the home for a number of institutions by the Franciscan Missionaries on Big Bazaar street and its extension, the Trichy road. Institutions like the Presentation Convent did yeoman service by skilling the financially depressed section of the society. A number of Coimbatoreans like the well known technocrat industrialist K.Venkatesalu put their kids in the St.Marys Convent on Trichy road. Prema Dhamodharan, the daughter of K.Venkatesalu recalled her days at the convent while sharing nuggets about her passion - embroidery and tailoring, "The nuns taught us needle work as a subject at school those days. Those were the times when machine embroidery was getting to become popular and women like my self taught mother Janaki used to help kids like myself during those formative years. Little did many of the girls realise that this could help them scale heights in the future."
Prema Dhamodharan got married to P.R.Dhamodharan, her cousin and a scion of the DPF family over 50 years ago while the idea that was sown in school was to germinate later. Years went by and with her two sons and a daughter getting busy with their education and sports, it was time for Prema to keep herself gainfully occupied. This resulted in the establishment of her boutique "Tots & Teens" at her residence at Circuit House road. Marketing was through word of mouth and she employed nearly half a dozen tailors besides dealing with some people on a job order basis. Slowly and surely the work delivered by her became well accepted and popular because of the high standards that were maintained by her. "The tailoring part was done from our place and some of the embroidery work was carried out in the residences of women who had been trained by the many European nuns who had left by then. It was a unique oppourtunity for people like me who could do business while also helping out some of skilled hapless women who were in need of financial support. I used to buy the needles and thread from shops like Novelty Stores those days. Besides I used to shop for stuff while on visits to other cities. A number of Japanese design cum instruction books came by because of my father's frequent trips to Japan. Over the years I specialised in hand embroidery and cross stitch. The designs and quality of work brought in a lot of good clientele. The work has given me a lot of success and contentment as well," smiles Prema Dhamodharan while chatting up from the verandah of her densely wooded bungalow.
Years of experience with the many facets of needle work like petit point, smocking, knitting, tatting, crochet, hand embroidery, cut work, cross stitch has made Prema Dhamodharan a much sought after person among the lovers of this kind of art cum craft. She spends a lot of time designing, doing traces, buying the appropriate needles, thread, frames and other items to execute the orders taken by her. A lot of efforts go into every aspect of the product and the result is simply fantastic. Over the years, the ever busy Prema Dhamodharan has made a lot of dresses, baby quilts with a little bit of embroidery and patch work, baby cribs, bags, cell phone pouches and wine bottle bags among a lot of other items which form a part of the bride's trousseau. Its interesting to learn that she has preserved several of her books, sketches and samples of work. Her collection includes some fine pieces of petit point, cross stitch and hand embroidery.
Prema Dhamodharan has recently got networked to a number of cross stitch specialists, thanks to gift of an ipad by her son Ramnarayanan who uses the best of technology to record nature. She is her ebullient self while talking about her interactions with the world of cross stitch, "I am part of a Cross Stitch Addicts group on Facebook thanks to the efforts of Valerie DaSilva. There are more than 5000 members in this group. We interact, exchange ideas, help each other out in the process. We basically get specialists study the design and structure the frame work for us. The specialists give us the specks and we follow their instructions while working on the pieces. Stitch - Along is one initiative were all the participants get to buy the basic design and work on it for some months. We compare and share notes. Every Wednesday, there is Work in progress analysis. Our group has a number of events and contests on a regular basis. Its amazing to learn that even Raja Ravi Varma's paintings have been made into cross stitch charts which can enable practitioners of this fine art re create the wonderful pictures. Every year an event in Moscow exposes people to a whole new world by show casing thousands of lovely pieces. Basically cross stitch was used to make tapestries in castles earlier. Its a beautiful art and craft form. I now feel that I should have got into it much earlier and cross stitch is fabulous stress buster."
Cross stitch addicts like Prema buy patterns from designers like Amanda Gregory. One of the designers Archana Puranik has in fact made a portrait of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the aid of cross stitch. Prema Dhamodharan talks about the ethics of her activity while also sharing details about some of the talented women in Coimbatore, "We make sure that our designs are ethically sourced from the authorised agents. There are a number of web sites which offer designs. This helps us get to ethically proceed with both cross stitch and hand embroidery. I work with a number of people and pay them well in order to ensure that this art cum craft form is nurtured. Coimbatore has a number of talented women from big families who are good with needle craft and they include Shantha Raghupathy (smocking) and Vanaja Dorairaj (hand embroidery) who pursue it as a hobby. A number of people among the elderly are happy and occupied because of the activities that are on the offer through groups like Cross Stitch Addicts. My grandson Gaurav, a prize winning nature photographer is a great support."
The conversation with Prema Dhamodharan gets all the more interesting when she displays her child like enthusiasm while showing off her collection and her works. She has made lovely pieces in cross stitch and framed them. Some of them are on display in her living room while many have been given away to her near and dear. She signed off with some points to ponder, "Promoting stuff like cross stitch and hand embroidery ensures the financial well being of a number of people who are in need of help. It nurtures talent among the well off and keeps them happy too. Either which way needle crafts like hand embroidery or cross stitch make people lead of life of joy and contentment." Enthusiasts will surely agree with her.