Deepavali Sewing - my outfit ..

Lots of Deepavali Sewing this year.

Outfit for Adithi , One for me and Two for my sister.

Made Sister's outfit first and she is yet to mail me proper pics. so cant share them as of now. made them in a hurry , in a span of two days, one dress a day and managed to send it back home, just in time as surprise gift for her. love you little sis :)

Now let me show my Deepavali outfit, which got delayed due to impromptou Pirate costume. since i was running out of time and had to sew something up fast and had decided to use the Mysore Silk fabric i had been hoarding for 4 years now !!! I had to make a quick and wise decision, use a tested pattern and ensure that fabric is done justice with.

Decided to use the same pattern i had made for my sister's second outfit . It was manipulation of darts to get a yoke shape. Altered it to fit my measurements. so the pattern was ready. Next challenge was to get the right lining for the fabric as silk was very think as is the nature of mysore silk. Luckily got the exact shade of color, lining fabric and got started. Made bottom on a day and top on next day.

Bottom is simple Churidhaar with lots of extra length to give gathers at ankle. The silk fabric is so nice as it feels as if you are wearing nothing .

Top is the Yoke kameez, where in i used bottom fabric for contrast and added the zari which was available in the top fabric.

The zari is Original Silver zari !

This kameez is one i will treasure and hopefully give it as ämanat to my darling daughter when she grows up as one of the outfits that her mom was proud that she sew !

Added the zari to the side slits of the kameez as well as bottom hemline at the front of the kameez.
This was the most difficult part and surprisingly took more than an hour to sew.

One thing i wish i had changed in this outfit was that in  a rush of using the pattern i had drafted for my sister , forgot to alter the neckline depth at the front, it is too up for my liking, but still comfortable enough so no issues.

Funniest tid bit in sewing this outfit was, that in the mad rush i had forgot to make drawstring for the pant and on the day of deepavali as i was trying to wear it, i realized the folly and made one drawstring using scrap bottom fabric , and wore it hot off the sewing machine ;)

In love with this traditional Churidhaar Kameez, what about you?

Here is a sneak peak of Adithis Deepavali Dress, for which a separate post is coming up soon...

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Dance Baby Dance !

Immediately after i had finished the Mehendi Dress , i had to sew a new Ghaghra Choli for Adithi for Dance Competition in her school. She wanted a new dress fit for the occassion and since i had promised her, i had to somehow manage to sew it in one single day! I thought the Mehendi dress could be completed in 3 days max, but it stretched to 4 days, so i had lost out on one day, so somehow had to speed up the sewing and finish it one day.

The fabric is silk with embellishments ( i had bought this during my fabric haul in chennai during Dec last!) and hence i was bit worried that i shouldn't spoil such a wonderful fabric in a hurry! Hmm this made my task even more tougher, but i had to do it!

Decided to make a broad waistband and add  a box pleated skirt below it. It was the simplest i could imagine int he given time frame and it will also drape well on silk fabric rather than circle or semi-circle styles. The skirt has flat front and elasticized at back waistline. Had to add a dart later on, after Adithi tried it on to make it fit exactly, I had taken her waist measurements after dinner! so it was just a bit bigger than her normal waist ! LOL!

when i had finished the skirt, it was time to pick her up from school, she tried it on and after the slight adjustment in the waist was made, the skirt was ready. Since the top was yet to be made, she generously decided to have lunch on her and did not insist on me sitting next her or even feed her the curd rice at the end which is a daily custom!

Given the license to sit and sew for next 3 hours, with minimum or no disturbance, assurance from her, i was all geared up! How i wish she can extend this cooperation when i sew something which is NOT for her as well! Hmm i can dream on , ha ha!

She wanted the choli in the same silk fabric and not in a contrasting fabric as i had planned earlier . she has this knack of making random demands and i have this bad habit of succumbing to them when it comes to sewing her dresses, as i want her to love what she is wearing! sigh! so i had no choice but to make the most of leftover fabric after sewing the skirt, which meant i had to patch the pieces of fabric.

How best to patch the fabric and make it look like design than patched fabric was my challenge while sewing the choli (top) and i can now confidently say i managed to nail it! The choli shaped up as it was sewn, improvisation to the hilt ! Used the contrast fabric to hide the patch and wow it did work!

She did not want her tummy to be seen in the front , but wanted them to peek through on the sides! She is one demanding customer i say :)

The back had to be modest and yet glamorous as she had wear it in school. So decided to narrow the exposed part with ties and made the ties in contrast fabric.

Had initially planned to handsew purple beads at the end of ties, but somehow did not have the time to do any handsewing , because when i finished the choli, it was already was time that sunlight was fading and she wanted to a dress rehearsal of the dress and practice her dance movements for one last time before she hits the stage tomorrow! So i let it be! May be i can add it before it gets worn the next time, which i hope will be during my sister's wedding celebrations, though nothing has been decided on that yet! But i can't help but dream about my sister's wedding !

The dupatta was ready to wear , the only challenge with it was to shorten it to fit her, but i didn't want to her that beautiful fabric so pleated it on the sides when i draped it on her and wow it fit her well and didnt disturb her dance movements as well.

Here is the bonus of this post. Her dance rehearsal video! The one i had shot during the competition in school was not that clear as i was far away from stage and had not set myself up as she was the first one to be called on stage! Guess what the latest upate on this, She had won the FIRST prize in the competition for her age group ! Yay!

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