That’s my pink, green and yellow cotton chaniya choli which I sewn and embroidered myself. I used pink, green and yellow cotton fabric for the skirt, and different colored cotton scraps for the elephant appliques. The skirt is a full-circle skirt, made up of pink and green panels and a circular cut yellow and green border.

I used green and white printed cotton from my stash for the square appliques on the pink panels. The fabric squares are appliquéd with zig-zag stitches which are hidden by the gold sequins. There are also gold sequins along each seam.

At the hem I appliquéd elephants. For the elephant appliques I used pink, light and dark green, brown, and green and white printed cotton scraps from my stash. Each elephant is shaped a little different. I appliquéd all elephants by hand with different colored cotton yarn or gold thread. Some of the elephants are appliqued with runnings stitches, while some are appliqued with overcasting stiches. And all raw edges are turned under.

The skirt is so comfortable to wear. And I couldn’t stop twirling! 😀 My skirt is mainly inspired by this pretty chaniya choli. And here are some more colorful chaniya cholis with appliques, fabric panels and sequins which inspired me: colorful chaniya choli, red sequined chaniya choli and black and multicolored chaniya choli.