Getting Started

• Brightly colored saris are most traditional garment you can expect to see an Indian girl wearing, so do your homework to find out what kinds of patterns, colors and styles of sari are most popular. Look at photographs of these traditional outfits and then choose elements you find most appealing to incorporate into your costume design. Invite your child to participate in this process with you, since she will be the one sporting the costume when it's finished. Ask her to select her favorite styles and colors you come across in your research, and then figure out how to actualize those in your plans.
  
  

Gathering Materials

• Once you've got a basic idea of elements like color that you want to incorporate into your design, start gathering your materials for costume construction. You'll need to take your daughter's measurements to determine how much fabric to purchase for the sari and develop a budget that you're willing to spend on making the garment. For a less expensive costume, use leftover bits of fabric you already have, shop for sale items at your local craft or fabric store, or cruise the secondhand and thrift stores in your area for options.
  
  

Constructing Your Sari

• Your daughter will need to wear a skirt or petticoat and a T-shirt or tank top beneath her sari. Decide what style of sari you want to create; there are hundreds of different ways to wear a sari, but the "nivi" style is one of the most traditional. It's a easy method that doesn't require you to sew a single stitch. Wrap the fabric around your daughter's waist from right to left, tucking the material into the petticoat. Create between five and seven 4-inch pleats by continuously tucking the material into the petticoat, and then drape the remaining fabric over the left shoulder. You can pleat the draped portion four or five times to make it less cumbersome. Use safety pins to secure the material, if you wish.
  
  

Finishing Touches

• For an added touch of authenticity, give your daughter a variety of Indian-inspired jewelry items like bangles, finger and toe rings or anklets to wear with her sari. You could also give her a pretend Henna tattoo using washable ink, or you could give her some stick-on "bindis" to wear on her forehead. She can wear black eyeliner, also called "kajal" in India, around her eyes and to make a black dot on her forehead. This is believed to protect a child from evil.