Kiran's Sari-Inspired Wedding Dress, Part 3: East meets West

A while ago, I started to design and create a wedding dress for my friend, Kiran. I now have some photos from the day to show you the finished dress!

Kiran and I both agreed that we wanted to include her Indian-Australian culture in this design, so as the name of this post implies, we mixed a little bit of east and west culture into the dress. I created a western style dress, using the eastern beaded sari and created an eastern influenced over skirt.

You can take a look at part 1 and part 2 of this dress, where you can see the making of, and how it all started. Also, I have now created videos of the making of this design, and you can view them on the Penelope Red youtube channel here. There are three parts to the video.




The wedding took place in Byron Bay, Australia.



I am so happy with how it turned out! I couldn't have asked for a more beautiful lady to wear this design, as I think Kiran looks perfect in it.


The dress awaiting its big debut!



The happy couple!


The back of the dress was going to be just as important as the front, since during the ceremony most people see this. I decided to create this interesting contrasting panel on the overskirt in pink, and make some really interesting shapes from it. There is beading all over the sari, a beaded trim at the back hem of the over skirt, and beading on the back of the dress, at the top.



I think it is almost safe to say that this is probably my most favourite design I have ever done so far, or at least in the top two or three. I have to admit, my tailored coats or winter dress do come very very close, but I can't help but love the decadence of this design!


If only I could find an excuse to make another one for myself!

Kiran's Sari-Inspired Wedding Dress, Part 3 Video: East meets West

You can now check out the making of Kiran's Sari Inspired Wedding Dress in a video format, on youtube here.

The video is split into 3 parts, so make sure you don't miss any parts!

Part one is here.

Watch all the detail and work that goes into making this stunning wedding dress!

Kiran's Sari-Inspired Wedding Dress, Part 2: East meets West

After more than 30 hours of hand sewing, 6 metres of hand beaded Sari, 5 metres of bright Pink Silk Dupion, 5 metres of blue silk lining, 3 metres of silk organza, and countless pins, threads and patience, I give you... Kiran's Sari Inspired Wedding Dress!










(Above, a photo of the back at the unfinished stage- I still needed to finish the hem and hand applique the sari beading onto the pink silk)



(above, the dress before I had hand appliqued the beading. This is at the 2nd fitting stage)


In August I started to show you the Sari Inspired Wedding Dress I was making for Kiran. Take a look at Part 1 here.



(above, the design at the unfinished stage- before the handsewing hand been started. You can see the over-skirt made from most of the sari)

I have now completed the design, and Kiran's wedding was on during the past weekend, so I can show you all the finished design! I intend to include professional photos from the photographer at the wedding, but until I can get a copy, my little snap shots will have to do!

I am also aiming to create a video of the making of this dress- as there is so much work involved, and photos will not really cut it!

For now, I have included below a few photos that I took during the making of this design. It truly is one of most favourite creations, and I am very proud to share it with you!


Cutting out the pink silk dupion for the dress and overskirt edge, and below: sewing the sari chiffon to the pink silk.



Above, the centre back. I created this beautiful shape, being inspired by the shape of the sari beading. I wanted the centre back to be a focus and create lots of interest. Later on, I decided to place one of the Sari beaded motif's in this area.


Above, unpicking the beading. Every place where there was a seam, or where the beading finished at an edge, I would need to unpick the beading and catch all the loose threads. People don't generally realise that as soon as you include beaded fabric to a design, the time taken to finish it is at least doubled because of this.

Below, the beautiful beaded design of the sari- this part of the sari was appliquéd around the bust area on the corset dress and at the centre back of the train.



A picture of the overskirt before I started to add any of the beaded trim.


Creating the corset which sits inside the dress.



Above, finishing off the inside of the overskirt- the inside must be as neat as the outside!

Kiran's Sari-Inspired Wedding Dress, Part 1: East meets West

Ok, so this is a little teaser for all of those interested in the Sari-Inspired wedding dress I am currently making. I can't show you too much, as I think it is only fair that the wedding guests see the final dress before the rest of the world!, but I wanted to show you the work involved in this design and all the handmade touches that go with it!

This dress is for a lady I have known ever since I started selling at Paddington Markets- over four years ago! Kiran, the bride, is one of my best customers, and I don't usually make wedding dresses, but for her, I was happy to do it. She always asks for something special and different, and through out the years we have grown to understand each others aesthetic, and more importantly, have become friends. I knew that she was going to want something completely different, and I couldn't wait to get started!


As Kiran is Indian-Australian, the first thing I said to her is that we should include the cultural influence. The above drawings is a rough idea of what the design has started out as. As the title of this posting implies, we wanted to keep an even mix of Eastern and Western cultures alive in this design; so we have a western-style corset dress, and as she walks down the aisle, we will have a gorgeous train/overskirt made from the Sari (pictured below).


After a while of searching for the perfect fabric, Kiran showed me this beautiful Sari that her Mum and herself had picked out. I was thrilled straight away! Anyone who knows me, knows that I love over-the-top decadence, so it was really exciting to be able to work with something such as this!



We decided that the plain bright pink silk dupion would be used for the corset dress, as this colour ties in with the beading, and really highlights Kiran's complexion. The navy blue silk chiffon sari will be used in making the over-skirt. The leftover beading/pieces of the sari will be used for decoration.


I generally get images/visions in my mind when I am really into a particular design (it sounds weird, I know, but I have no idea how else to describe it). Every time I envisaged this design, I could see the pink silk added to the over-skirt hem, and constructed into really interesting shapes that would add detail and interest to the back. As we had discussed, most guests would have a view of the back of her dress throughout the whole ceremony, so we wanted to make the back a feature.

The above and below photos show the toile (or prototype) of the dress, with the over skirt attached. Imagine wherever the white fabric is, that is where bright pink silk will be; wherever the black is, that represents the sari.




The above picture is the corset dress toile, so imagine this in bright pink silk.

As you can see, there is a lot more to go on this design. I will be updating this design as I proceed further, in the next few months- so stay tuned!

Take a look at PART 2 here!

Take a look at some of my other designs here: