Why a cord set solves the hardest part

Buying an embroidered kurti is the easy half. Finding a bottom that matches it — same shade, same weight, same fabric — is where most people give up and settle for something close enough. A cord set removes that problem: both pieces are cut from the same bolt of red Summer Cool, so the colour matches exactly and both age at the same rate through washing.

The kurti carries all the work. Ivory vines curl continuously across the front, carrying marigold and orange blooms with small green leaf sprigs, running from the yoke down past the knee. The neckline is finished with a fine worked band and both cuffs carry a matching border. The back is kept simple — one gold motif at the centre — and the bottom is left plain, which is what stops the set becoming too much.

What you are getting

• Two pieces — embroidered kurti and matching bottom.
• Both cut from the same red Summer Cool fabric.
• Jaali vine work across the full front of the kurti.
• Ivory vines with marigold, orange and green blooms.
• Worked neckline band and matching cuff borders.
• Single gold motif at the centre back.
• Plain bottom, so the set stays balanced.
• Dispatched directly from Kashmir with a GST invoice.

How to wear it

Wash both pieces together

This is the one rule specific to a cord set. Both pieces are the same red, and if you wash them at different times or at different temperatures, they will drift apart in shade over a year — and the whole point of the set is that they match. Wash them together, cold, with a mild detergent.

The embroidery needs the care, not the cloth: do not wring, and do not brush the embroidered areas, where chain stitch pulls loose first. Wash separately from other clothes the first couple of times, since a red this deep can release dye early and it will find the ivory vines. Dry in shade, inside out, and iron on the reverse with the plate off the threadwork.