When my friend, Sangeeta, found out I was sewing, she brought over two Indian lehengas to be altered. They were both too long, and outdated. She wanted them to fit well and look more in line with her style.
One of the lehengas was cream colored, full of bead work and embroidery. Really, look at that bead and embroidery work!
The top had long puff sleeves and the bottom skirt was too long and too full for her liking. The elastic was worn out so it wasn’t going to stay up either. This photo was taken mid way in figuring out all that needed to be altered.
Once I removed one of the sleeves, I noticed that some fabric could be taken out in the armsyce, so I added a dart. These darts magically (because it wasn’t intentional) lined up with the piping in the bodice and can hardly be seen.
Armsyce was finished using bias binding and doing a blind stitch. The bias tape came from the fabric I cut from the skirt.
The skirt was an interesting project on it’s own. The simple parts were to replace the elastic in the back casing. After my first go at cutting down the fullness to what I thought was a good amount – because lehenga are suppose to be full! – I sent a picture of me wearing it.
Sangeeta nixed that quickly. So I removed more triangles from both sides.
The bottom was cut about 4 inches, and the hem was finished with a rolled hem using a rolled hem foot. I love the foot when it works..is used right!
Look at that beautiful hem!
Once finished, I took it over to her. The photos below is version 2. Please ignore the mess in my sewing room, trying to keep a toddler busy is more important 😛
She loved the new bodice but the skirt was still too full for her taste. I pinned it all down while she was wearing it and took it back for a THIRD try. This time, she loved it. The slimness of it worried me a bit because there was no slit. But she was able to walk up and down the stairs without issue.
Another happy customer, who got to wear this to a wedding soon after the alterations were done. 🙂
