Festival season is right around the corner, but that doesn’t mean you have to go out a buy a new outfit (and create more waste!). With a little creativity and just a few new materials, you can take an old sari and transform it into a party-ready, modern lehenga.

For this project, I upcycled a sari that my mother hadn’t worn in years. It was a beautiful pink silk sari with a gold medallion pattern woven into the fabric and a turquoise blue border. Not only were the colors perfect for parties, but the sari also came with sweet childhood memories of my mom wearing it.

For this style, we worked with a tailor to convert the sari into three pieces:

• Choli: The pink center of the sari was used to create a choli with half sleeves. Thin gold piping was used to finish the collar and sleeves, for a more polished look.
• Dupatta: The remaining pink fabric was used to create a matching dupatta. A portion of the blue pallu was attached to each end of the dupatta, and the blue sari border was applied all around the dupatta.
• Lehenga: For the lehenga, we purchased 3.5 meters of turquoise blue fabric for the skirt panels and 3.5 meters of matching santoon fabric for the lining. To make sure the lehenga coordinated with the choli and dupatta, we added the remaining sari border to the bottom of the skirt, and to complete the look, we added new pink lace (9 meters, 1″ wide lace with gold gotta patti floral decoration) to the waistband and to the bottom of the skirt.

The finished product is perfect for a festival, garba or mehendi celebration. The many panels in the lehenga add volume and create a flared look, which is particularly flattering on the dance floor! For added volume, I wear this with a can-can (a skirt made of tulle).