Following on from my first HOW TO MAKE A DHOTI FOR KRISHNA post, I have put together a very simple guide, with some ideas and explanations about the reasons for pleating, and how and where to pleat.
This really is the worlds easiest dhoti… or maybe I should say, realistic dhoti, after all there are some dhoti which are just a sarong and that is probably easier style.
It’s also extra fun because I have temporarily in my custody this beautiful Krishna deity I painted! Isn’t He lovely? Syamasundar Krishna in all joyous happy beauty. (If you are painting deities then please check out my tips on painting deity forms)
As long as you know how to sew and hem a simple rectangle, then this DIY tutorial is all you need to get started on making your own clothes for Krsna! If you have your deity standing in front of you then you can easily work out the length you need to cut.
I love it if I have Krsna in front of me it makes sewing for Him SO much easier! In general I would allow 1/2 of waist width for the front pleats, 3cm extra for the back pleat, and then 1.5 times waist width for the length to pass between Krishna legs and fold into the back of his dhoti at the back.
Always sew on your braid before you do your final stitches to secure the ends and add your press studs!
If anything in this tutorial is unclear, please refer to my step-by-step tutorial which is detailed with images! Here’s that link againÂ
There’s a whole catalogue of Krishna videos on my YouTube channel which you may or may not follow – not everything makes it’s way to my blog, we’ve diversified across social media platforms, hah! Please subscribe and follow me on YouTube & Facebook! I promise to keep it Krishna conscious! I don’t promise not to totally obsess over art, Krishna, deities, and more 🙂
See post on the fun had during the reenactment activity here
Setting up the activity table with all the required paints, papers, cutting tools and precut fish shapes makes the craft go smoothlyAn assortment of fish shapes, cut out from brown (natural) paper plates and turtles, ready for kids to decorate and IMPORTANTLY some examples so they have an idea to springboard their imaginations offGoogly eyes, precut baby turtle shapes from green cardboard, twine, a carved wooden turtle inspiration and some cut off egg carton cardboard are the perfect tools to create some marvellous sea creatures.Making turtles, cut out the silhouette from paper plates first and decorate with “scales” from bits of mini muffin linersPreparing in advance is key to quick and easy craft activities for kids, easy for them to grab the materials and away they go!
These fun fish have a destination! Were made using brown paper plates and little “boats” dishes for food.Creatively decorated with glitter, big and little turtles – and adorable googly eyesLetting the kids DIY craft is most of the fun. See how creatively adorned with shiny metallic foil wrappers this turtle is? The paper plate base makes nice texture on his flippers and finsAn assortment of fish created using eco-disposable serving ware, these fish are made with little wood paper boats, and covered in silver and gold foil cupcake wrappers for a fish scale effect that catches the light and is shiny
A little stage was set using the fish craft. A throne was made for Varuna, and paper streamers and balloons were hung to give the underwater world effect, as well as all the crafted fish the kids had made during the activity section of the Krishna playday.
Every so often we are welcomed into a world of delight! This beautiful play day was organised by some homeschooling wonderwomen & shared with me. It’s got craft, dress ups, and role playing – what an adventure!
The schedule for activities is one which I have found generally works, and you can shake up the order as needed, to keep kids attention and make sure they are well fed & happy:
Offering: Have a romp around and play while the guests drift in, and once all are assembled have an offering to Krishna and all chant. It’s very encouraging to round up all the little ones for this, and give them different instruments to shake bash bang or play. Even the youngest can take part if they can shake a tamborine.
offering to Krishna with Love and kirtan
Storytime:After a kirtan, relaxed and fun, tell or read a Krishna story. Kids relate much better to something which is a lively and animated retelling, and enjoy a group story-telling session where the storyteller interacts with them and gets them involved by asking questions. We don’t have a video of this part, but we are working on a collection of Krishna storytelling videos! Stay posted.
set up activity area ready for bombardment of mini people and their enthusiastic minders.
Lunch: While the craft is drying is the ideal time for a lunch break.
Lunchtime with some freshly offered banana muffins prasadam from Lord Krishna
Story re-enactment: Dressing up and decorating themselves and each other the kids have a lot of fun retelling the story they have learnt.
A little stage was set using the fish craft, and a muslin bed canopy suspended from the overhead mango trees. A throne was made for Varuna, and paper streamers and balloons were hung to give the underwater world effect, as well as all the crafted fish the kids had made during the activity section of the Krishna playday. This can work just as nicely inside a house don’t worry!A full cast of actors for our Krishna drama
Wild playtime: the culmination of the day time to bond with each other and relax in their environment and free play.
Free play time in the wonderland of the outdoors and a rustic homemade treehouse/ sandpit complete with a wobbly walking bridge
there are lots of different styles of deity garments (of course for different deities too! Krsna & Radha /Krsna Balaram/ Gaur’s Nitai/ Jaganath deities.. this tutorial is for a pleated dhoti which passes between the legs to secure at the back of the waistband. You’ll need to make sure that your deities have enough gap between their legs to pass up the back pleat of the dhoti.
Deity form needs gap between legs to pass up dhoti back pleat
I really hope that this tutorial will assist you in making your own deity garments. It is geared at beginners who have some sewing experience, as I don’t think I’m practical enough to do a tutorial while I teach you to sew! I’m personally fairly disorganized and love to have a pattern to copy, I don’t think I even have my deities measurements written down anywhere because I always have a big overflowing basket of their laundry I can just pull a sample garment from, and I have my favorites.
You can watch a few more DIY tips if you want some ideas about the various methods I use to create this simple dhoti pattern. View here.
There’s so many styles and they all give such a different vibe! People have preferences for different lengths/ fabrics/ you name it! Right now I love lots of summery bright colors, simple braids, and abundant fresh flowers. In summer time I have some nice just below the knee length dhoti for my Nitai Gaur deities, but they also have some longer just above the ankle length dhotis.
Making garments for your deities is such an adventure. Most of the early sets I made for my deities prior to installation I no longer dress them in – lately their garments are uber-simple, sometimes even without braid, simple, cool, and so comfortable to wear. Always, always easy to dance in!
Remember you are making these clothes for their pleasure, so even your humble attempts, if not perfect, will be a nice start.
Offer your Lords a mirror to enjoy their own beautiful reflection after you have dressed them 🙂
Before you start:
Measure! You’ll need to measure you deities waist or hip (where you want the dhoti to sit) . Measure the hip to ankle – choose your length at this point.  (You can go anywhere from knee length to ankle).
Ok so you have measured, now you can select your fabric
& I’d like to offer some words of wisdom here: I use mostly fine silk (silk charmeuse) or sometimes very nice polyester or cotton fabric. I’ll do another post on fabric types some other time, but for now please try your first dhoti garment in this style using a very light fine fabric so it drapes nicely and is not difficult to sew. For this tutorial I am using a light-weight cotton, such a pretty print!
You might like to make a sample dhoti first, to save special fabric for when you have worked out the perfect sizing. This is a very non-scary way to proceed, especially if you have bought a silk fabric which averages around $20 a metre!
Ready to start:
Select suitable fabric, cut with seam allowancepleat a fine set of pleats in the front, to see how much pleat allowance you will have, on top of your waist measurementJudicious use of pins while you work out the appropriate lengthTest on Krsna remove the excess fabric which is not needed to make the pleat at back
Back pleats will look like this, and will have a press stud attached to secure
Cutting out your pattern – So generally the overall waistband length will be 1.5 x the waist band length. Allow extra pleats in the front and don’t count on them as part of your waist band measurement. This can vary depending on the curviness of your Lord. If you have your deities right in front of you then that is the easiest way to do it. Sometimes you may need to add in a pleat to the back to allow for a curvy hip on Krsna or Nitai Gaura deities.
Hem your basic rectangle. I like to use my miracle foot, the seam it gives is as fine as a hand rolled seam could be.
Add on your braid. You may wish to have braid simply down the front, or around the hem. Consider that if the braid is very think it may interfere with the way the fabric hangs. You can handsew or machine sew the braid dependent on the amount of beadwork on the braid or other factors like time. In general they sit best if hand-stitched but I often sew them on, after accounting for the affect the braid will have on the pleating or the folds of the cloth.
Note where the pleat side is – it shouldn’t be on the crossed leg it should be on the straight leg side.
Stitch your pleats down, I like to make them fine and stack them in the front, with three pleats.
For fastners, you have a choice – you can either use Velcro (it’s SO easy to put them off and on with velcro and also allows for some room, you can adjust the tightness a little bit, but it will pull the silk if you are using silk, and if you aren’t super organised in your deity garment care it can pull other elements like shawls or other dhoti. The other option is to use snap fastners – they sell varying sizes of these, and depending on the weight of your fabric you will chose the appropriate size. They’re very time consuming to stitch down, sometimes it takes me just as long to sew on the snaps as hemming and putting together the whole dhoti! Still, they’re long lasting and they won’t damage any garments.
You’ll need to have fastners at the waistband, and one in the middle of the waistband at the back and on the pleat that passes between the legs and snaps on at the back.
Completed Krsna dhoti! You can tuck the pleats between his legs a little. On the deity, please create the pleat on the leg which will be straight, so that it can tuck tidily between his legs and the other crossed leg has the section which will pass between his legs and up the back to pin at the back.
things to be careful of:
position your press studs in the right spots like don’t get confused on the inside & outside – if you check the end of the video you’ll notice I stitched the button on the back pleat on the wrong side!
Pleats! I can’t over emphasize this – pleat side should be on the straight leg so it can tuck between the bent leg on Krsna. It doesn’t matter so much on deities of Lord Chaitanya & Lord Nityananda, as their standing postures can vary.
keep it easy! Use a rolled foot on the sewing machine to hem.
Beading needles work best for stitching on the press studs
