Design a Sharara for a Little Woman

M is my niece. The grand daughter of my favorite aunt Gopi Atya, who pampered me with food and toys and during festivals I was always stolen away from my parents especially my Dad so that I got to experience the culture in Colaba Koliwada.

Now it is M's turn to get pampered. When she was about 5 or 6 she came for a week's vacation to my home in Mumbai. That was a time I was on a break from work and could really spend a fun time with her. I took her shopping and indulged. I told her to pick whatever she liked and the little girl collected everything in Pink and white! A flurry sling purse, clips, hair bands, slippers and what not and a Barbie ofcourse. I would do her little girl make up and style her hair differently everyday. She had long silky hair and she looked like a doll with a fairy pink hair band with loose tresses on the back. I was so happy to see her gleaming and wondered if I had a daughter ever...

Then some 2-3 years ago we went shopping again. While talking to her I got to know she loved traditional parkar-polka and like all Indian parents obsessed with passing on the culture bit she was also gifted one as a child but now she liked the glitzy Sharara!

If you go to buy a Sharara in Colaba you would not get anything less than 3000 Rs. at the time; plus the sizes for a Little woman are not right fits, the alteration spoil the whole look. So what I did was picked up a nice Hakoba chickankari punjabi suit set. It consisted of a full body of satin embroidery on chiffon meant for the kurta, a lizzy bizzy plain material for the pajama and a broad 2.5 meters of dupatta with a lovely thin lace and trimmings matching the kurta cloth. We chose a lavendar-pink color as M still in her tweens was gushing over it. 

Then I spent some time with my SIL, Kalpana and explained to her the design that was playing in my head. Kalpana is an indulgent Mum and she too was excited about this project. We decided on a flower design for the choli styled like a short kurti with a flower border. The neckline to have a delicate outline with a flower motif at the center of the broad V neck. The kurti to have small butti all over. The sleeves we selected for this ensemble was maggie, to flaunt her long arms. M wanted one thing in this Sharara and that was tassels! We decided to make them beaded ones. So you see the jeweled tassels made of small pearl strings with a large rani pink teardrops hanging from it. These jeweled tassles made this whole ensemble grand. You see them on the dupatta as well as on the sleeves.

She sent me this picture which I love so much. I know she cherishes this whole thing of designing her own Sharara and Kalpana Vahini tells me she wore it to all her parties and events that year for she feared she'd grow out of it! 

The Little woman has since grown into a college going young woman.