Daughter's matching dress for New year's eve party

 I had posted mother's dress earlier. Since they wanted a matching set of dresses, here is her 8 yr old's dress. Made out of the same chiffony blue fabric and same lining fabric and the same white lace. 
The challenge was to make a 'grown up' fabrics fit a kid! The dress had to last for a couple of sizes bigger too, a she keeps growing!
The dress won't go over the head without some kind of opening. So, opened the shoulder seams on the left and gave a couple of gold buttons, thereby adding a fun element.

           

The white lace close in the yoke looked rather plain; I stitched shiny blue sequins along the loops and a butterfly shaped gold sequin at the end of each loop, on the front. Kid was happy with the bling.

  

Raw silk yellow sleeveless kurti

I love this kurti. It is minimalist yet suitable for a formal occasion. There is an interesting incident to how this kurti came to be. The magenta pink neck detail shown in the photos, was part of an elaborate anarkali dress material; the semi stitched variety. There were too many elements on that dress. So, we removed this feature (as it was superfluous) for a future project. When my friend / customer went shopping for dress materials for kurtis, she picked up this bright yellow raw silk (not pure silk) and wanted the pink detail on it.  
The neck depth in front and the slit were determined by the feature.

Materials:
Raw silk - 1.5 m
Neck detail / yoke - from a previous dress

Front neck high with a slit in front
Back neck low
Sleeveless

If you happen to have any embroidered pieces or attractive prints, do not throw them out. they can be added on to other dresses. 

Satin stitch embroidery on Raw silk Churidar kurta

I wanted a classic and traditional kind of dress. This is one of my outfits, a Churidar Kurta made in Raw silk, a greenish yellow (florescent?). The material is very skin friendly and excellent in winters; costs a bit more too.

I used several different types of stitches of hand embroidery on clothes, but never actually did satin stitch; not because I cannot do it, but because it takes more time and if done shoddily, looks really bad. there is no place to hide in a Satin stitch.

Decided to do a once in a life time project, and here it is. came out well and I am proud of myself, at the end of it. I used only the threads and colours I had with me. It took a few months to complete the embroidery. I did the embroidery on the border first and then stitched the dress. The herringbone stitches were put after the tailoring is done.

 

Material:

Raw silk (Pure silk) - 4 m.

Silk embroidery threads - Red, Golden yellow, Blue, Sky blue, White, Green.

Stitches:

Satin stitch

Herringbone stitch 

Herringbone stitch in diagonal lines on the Churidar. Used all colours except white.

Drew the design for the border myself. This way i could adjust the length of the design to the flare / width of the churidar.

Left half of the border

Right half of the border. Design is symmetrical.

The motif in the centre

Simple double lines around the blunt V neck, in herringbone stitch in red and yellow colours.

Dress for New Year's eve party (Mother's)

A friend's friend wanted a dress for the New Year's eve party held in a star hotel. We discussed the style and the type of fabric that will suit her best.She is small in stature but has full figure. Her concern was to make her her look streamlined and svelte. I made a ankle length dress for her with white lace material as yoke and blue piping around the neck and arm holes. She got white net material for lining of yoke.  The cut, fit and flare suited her perfectly. She has lovely completion, so the white lace on the bodice offset it beautifully.

 

Materials:
Blue Chiffon - 2.5 m.
White lace - 0.5 m.
White net for lining - 0.5 m.
Blue crepe lining - 2.5 m.

Description:
The bodice / yoke and the skirt are stitched separately and then attached. The scallop part is the border on the lace material. Added it separately. Took a gentle A-line for the dress to add height to her. I stitched the lining and the top material on the sides, as the width of both were the same. 

Knee length dress in knit material

      

Recently I had made this dress for a friend. She wanted to wear it for a semi formal occasion. As you can see, it is a knee length dress, half sleeves with a short slit on the left leg.

Material:
Cotton synthetic mix, knit material in off white black and red checks, 2 m, 60" width.
Black, synthetic, slight stretch, 1/4 m., 44" width.

Description:
We decided to make it about calf length initially, with a longer slit. She wanted the black material to one side. Since the design is checks, I suggested we go with square neck. in front and shallow round on the back. The sleeves had a few small pleats on the top for a better fit. On her first trial, the dress did not look all that fetching because of the length. It turned out to be perfect at knee length. Because the dress got shortened, the slit got shortened too. We are going to put a few red coloured buttons on the black strip closer to the neck to add a bit of jazz.