Suhani in Sunrise Celebration

Welcome September, one of my favorite months of the year.  The beginning of the 'bers.  Birthday month for me (18th).  That precious time of year when the cool mornings heat up to Indian Summer afternoons, that cool right down at night and allow for open windows to sleep comfortably by.  September. 

This will be my only journal for the month as we are finally taking a road trip, after six long years, to one of our favorite destinations - Southern Utah.  The land of red rock canyons and in the higher elevations, the turning of the aspen trees.  Perhaps when I return, I'll post and share some photos of the journey.

While I was deep into gathering fabrics and trims to design a lehenga for Cissy, it occurred to me that I'd yet to sew something for one of the Ruby Red Fashion Friends dolls by Ruby Red Galleria.  I knew they'd created a doll named Kayla with darker, warmed toned skin, and I thought she'd make a perfect little Indian child.  I found this lovely version of Kayla, after my 

friend, Julie, had directed me to a nude one with green eyes.  I liked the dark eyes better, at the time, so purchased this one.  She's roughly the same size as the Little Darling, Peggy Sue, who I've sewed for in the past, and I find this size wonderful to create for.  

I named this child Suhani, which means pleasant.  There were other Indian girl names with more exotic meanings, but I loved the way "Suhani" sounded when spoken.  

It's been a little crazy around here lately, especially with planning this trip which we leave for soon, and I'd started Suhani's lehenga shortly after completing Cissy's.  I have some gorgeous Indian silks in yellows and greens, and well, just about every color now, but this salmon pink made me feel good to work with after the cooling aqua tones of the first costume.

When designing these lehenga, I lay out many fabrics with trims on them, and sort and swap until some combination hits me just 

right.  With Suhani's silk, I had barely a half yard and this fabric is so delicate and beautiful that I couldn't afford to make any mistakes.  I was cautious every step of the way in creating this one.  It's the same basic pattern as Cissy's only smaller in all dimensions and is made without darts in the bodice.  Every doll's body is slightly different and making a fresh pattern each time is time consuming.  Because they are all different, I seldom feel like I'm ever going to get the hang of pattern making.

However, the point I wish to make is that I design as I go along.  What trim I may have chosen originally, may not get used.  Especially if a new shipment comes in and something better shows up. This was clearly the case here, and how to embellish the costume came to me as the days went by.

This salmon silk is simply heaven.  Its light and thin for a brocade and the nicest thing about the metallic brocade pattern, is that it has little diamond shapes.  Given that, I was able to turn patterns this 

way and that to get the most out of the fabric I had to work with.

I wanted to do more with this costume.  Push myself into adding more sparkle and bling.  I can be so safe and boring when it comes to things like this.  Myself, I dress very blandly and non-descript, so glamorizing a doll does not come easily to me.

It was my intention to dress Suhani and simply display her.  Other costumes would not be on the horizon, but now that I've completed the first one, I just may have to make her two or three more.  

I also wanted to focus on her jewelry, and I'll get to that in a bit.

Suhani's choli (blouse) is a cropped top with a lower scoop in back than Cissy's was.  Because of her long, thick wavy hair, it wouldn't do any good to make this a feature, so I'll save that for another costume.  I did trim the edge with an "old gold" with sequins trim from India.  Choosing this trim set the tone for the rest of the 

costume.  

I'll mention Julie again, as she had shown me a drawing someone drew for a costume like this that was entered into a contest for Ruby Red Galleria to select new doll costuming from.  What Julie loved was the little bag with the elephant on it.  I love elephants!  And I wanted to do something with elephants for this costume.

A beloved icon of Hindu and Buddhist faiths, the Asian elephant has been intertwined with human history for centuries.  Hindus believe the Buddha was reincarnated from a white elephant and they worship the elephant head deity, Ganesha.  Many Hindu temples in southern India include elephants in annual festivals.  

There is an elephant festival that takes place during Holi.  Holi marks the beginning of spring, and the festival is held each March. The Elephant Festival is celebrated in the city of Jaipur in Rajasthan.

I'd come across these gorgeous little old gold and sequin elephant appliques as part of some lehenga tassels I'd purchased from India.  The tassels themselves were far too large for a doll, but trimming out the embroidered elephants would work perfectly to parade around the hem of Suhani's skirt.

The tassel Suhani wears from a clip on her skirt is also very traditional.  From another tassel length I cut appart, I cut down the clip that had diamond shapes hammered into it, just the right size for Suhani's skirt.  The beaded and sequin tassels were trimmed of their ruffle to make them a smaller size.  I adore these elephants and intend to make sure Cissy gets a costume with them on her lehenga, too.

As for the jewelry, I put some effort into this and made it myself from parts of purchased Indian jewelry for women.  One of the most charming earring sets that women wear are called Jhumka.

Jhumka is a type of earring worn by women in the Indian subcontinent.  It is bell shaped and typically made of metal.  It can be jeweled or enameled and is highly decorative.  Jhumka translates to the word bell and the earrings got their name as there is typically a jewel or metal beading that jingles inside the bell when the head is turned.  

Suhani is wearing Jhumka with pearl dangles.  Her maang tika (teeka, tikka - it seems to be spelled many ways), is a strand of chain and pearls with a centered jewel embellishment on the forehead.

I made her necklace from chain and brass ball drops.  I have yet to discover the name of this traditional style of necklace and its significance, outside of its simple elegance and charm.  

Suhani wears gold sandals made by an artist on Etsy known as Lorelie.  LorelieCreations did a fine job with them and while I do enjoy making shoes, there was simply no need to do so.  I don't mess with perfection.

Suhani's dupatta was made from a sari cloth which was one of my first purchases in looking for fabrics.  I have no idea what I'm going to do with the rest of this fabric but was happy to at least be able to use it for this purpose.  I added beaded and jeweled embellishments.

I've included some lovely images of Asian elephants below.  There is even one with Queen Elizabeth (gosh I miss her!), on a visit to India.  What I came across in looking for Asian Elephants was the BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha.  This is a spiritual and humanitarian organization with temples in several areas of the U.S.  How exciting!  I could visit a real Indian temple within the U.S.!  Dream on.  But, if I'm ever in Chicago, I'm going to try.  The two photos below with the temple entrance and the white elephants are from the center near Chicago.

I thoroughly enjoyed making Suhani this costume and do in fact think there will be another for her in the future.

I spent some time this morning sorting trims and jewelry and tassel bits into four Sterlite storage tubs.  My studio is still a disaster with folded silk fabric stacks all over the floor.  When I'm working on a new costume, my work surface gets completely covered with everything and in time there is hardly a place to work.  I just keep adding and shoving stuff out of the way.  The madness of creativity!

The next time I write a journal post will be in October.  It will be time to think about Halloween.  There'll be a new Club Grace box in the vacation hold mail.  In the meantime, I hope you'll enjoy every precious day that September brings.  Mark the 23rd as the Autumn Equinox and give a nod to China's Mid-Autumn Festival on the 29th.  How I wish I'd be home to make costumes for Ten Ping and Gigi.  

Love, Melissa