I guess my dressmaking story starts off with my very first Deity, Laddhugopal. I loved him very much. He only had one dress and it just never occured to me that it is possible to make my own. One day a devotee had pictures of another devotees Laddhugopal, he had maybe a hundred photos and the Deity had so many nice, home-made outfits! So I decided that I was going to make my first dress for Laddhugopal. It was a deep yellow dress with white beads. I didnt know how to work a sewing machine (and didnt learn until a few months ago) so it was all done by hand. And the result was...hideous. The dress was too long, the white beads were supposed to give a scattered look but it just looked uneven. Definitely not what I saw in my head. But I was proud. At least he gets to wear something different. From there I made more dresses, the more I made, the better it got. From there I made dresses for Jagannath, Baladeva and Subhadra, Gaura-Nitai and Radha-Krishna.
Now I have my own Deities that were installed in November 2006. Sri-Sri Radha Madana-mohana. The outfit they are wearing here is their installation dress (for a dress like this I charge $30. Its a beautiful and extremely detailed dress, not to mention my back problems because of it. But its totally gorgeous and I think well worth the price).
I've gotten a lot of comments on the dresses they wear and people encourage me to start a dressmaking business. I always told them no. I just felt like my dresses werent good enough. I mean, they were okay. They were good enough for me, atleast. But through futher persuasion over the last couple years I finally decided to take the leap and put my stuff out there.
I think having custom made outfits are nicer than the ready-made for a number of reasons:
1) They are creative and unique
2) Its fitted just for your Deity
3) Every stitch is made with love and attention
4) Its a personal offering for your Deity.
5) Unlike with ready-made, if there is something you dont like or want to add, just send it to me and I can fix it!
So jaya. Here I am, ready to serve you, and your Deity, in whatever size shape or form! => : )
