Finally sewing again…

It’s been about a week, but I was so proud of the dress I made for O’s birthday this year, I just had to share it. For her 5th birthday, she wanted a new birthday dress. I don’t know, maybe the last one I made is getting a little small…?

Anyway, I was happy to oblige. As you know, I’m a huge fan of Amanda Blake Soule and her blog, SouleMama. Trust me when I tell you: a craftier, more thoughtful-gift-giving mama you will never find. In need of the perfect crafty gift for my little one, I headed straight over for a bit of inspiration. I was drawn to a pattern very similar to the one I made in 2012: Geranium by Made by Rae. I like that the pattern comes in 18 months all the way to size 12 and has a few variations {sleeve options, gathers or pleats, etc.} which means I can essentially sew the same dress for the next 6 or 7 years! I’d say it was totally worth the price.

I stopped in at The Stitchin’ Post to inquire about where to find the best fabrics for sewing such a dress, and the proprietress, Erin, directed me to The Quiltery in nearby Fairfield, VA. The Quiltery is fully-stocked with so much fabric your jaw will drop. They have a huge selection of Civil War reprints, at least 100 different batiks, plus doo-dads and what-nots enough to sew anything your heart desires. They have sewing clubs and quilting competitions and all kinds of great things happening all the time. After about an hour, I picked out a few options, coming back again and again to the 1930s reprints in the back room, and finally settling on the very first fabric I’d picked up.

You know a dress was meant to be when you get home and, realizing you need four matching buttons, you reach for your grandma’s old jar of {almost completely white and ivory} buttons and find FOUR vintage purple buttons that are a) just the right size and b) exactly the right shade of lavender. Good looking out, Gurn. 🙂

Now, Amanda has, at least once, made two of these dresses {TWO} in one day {in ONE day}, but it took me two and a half days – I cut everything out during the kids rests on Day One, and sewed it all together on Day Two then re-vistited The Stichin’ Post for a quick tutorial in button-hole-making and sewed on the buttons on Day Three. In my defense – the dress was meant to be a surprise so I could only work on it during kid-free {read: sleeping} time. I was up very, very late the night before O’s big day, but I think it was well worth it. Don’t you?

PS – waiting a week to post this means I can tell you that she did in fact wear the dress for 4 days straight. <3

{OvO}