birfday!

Today is my birthday.

I've had a wonderful pre-birthday weekend and a very special and relaxing day.  And I've been happy to have a great dress to wear for my festivities.

My birthday dress is made from an Amy Butler fabric called "Love Bliss Bouquet" - how could you go wrong with a name like that?!

When I first started getting back into sewing my own clothes in April, I really had a craving for a mint green and pink dress with a sort of shabby-chic 90s feel, but also updated for today.  I've seen some prints in RTW clothes that were perfect, but it took about a month of hunting around for the perfect fabric and it was backordered for a while too - so it wasn't until late May that I finally placed my order at fabric.com.

I thought at first that I would make the Cambie pattern with it, but I kept resisting cutting into it - I wanted a fun summer dress, but the Cambie felt a little too formal and I thought this fabric might be too unironically 1990s style with the Cambie, so I sort of waited and put off cutting it.  Then I scored Vogue 2429 from 2000 at Goodwill for 99 cents.

I sewed a muslin of the pattern from navy gingham and I fell in love.  I knew it was perfect for a summer dress for my birthday.  I had one deadline for this summer, which was to make this lovely fabric into a dress to wear for my birthday.

The fit is the same as the muslin.  I faded between two sizes and made the skirt as wide as my fabric permitted, then gathered it.  (The gingham is pleated, instead.) I originally made the same bow that is the detail on the gingham one, but it looks overly busy and awkward with this floral print, so I decided to add some decorative buttons, instead.

They are Czech glass frosted pink glass buttons with hexagrams on them.  I think they are well-suited to the dress & give some detailing around the bust gathers in a better way than the bow, for this print.

I wore my dress on Saturday when I was up in Portland and again today.  We had a lot of fun in Portland - went to a fantastic store called the Knittin' Kitten.  I can't recommend it enough for any sewist or crafty person who finds him or herself in PDX.  It's a thrift/vintage store of all craft supplies.

It warrants its own blog entry and will be getting one within the week, but the short review is:  go there, you will love it!  I am wary to share good thrifting locations with just anyone, but I will happily share this store with everyone because it's amazing and I want to support its existence with lots of business.

I'm beaming from ear to ear because I just bought so many awesome things for such great prices!

Not too much new to say about the pattern - this one I did with an invisible zip that was actually invisible.  That made me happy after my Emery muslin debacle.

I'm also happy with the pattern matching on the back bodice. I expended a bit of extra effort on pattern placement for this large print and I think it turned out well.

After visiting Knittin' Kitten, we went to one of my favorite Vietnamese restaurants for lunch, Pho Van.

Lots of fun!  Not only is the food delicious and the coffee strong and sweet, the ambiance is also quite beautiful.  I took advantage of the photogenic nature of the environment to get a little silly - afterall, it was my birthday weekend!

I also wore my dress out today on my birthday-proper to have dinner with my family.  It was a little chillier today, so I wore it with a coral-colored cardigan and also the beautiful new amber earrings my sweet husband gave me for my birthday.

And as a parting shot, here's a couple of reverse pictures - I lined it with the super-soft floral rayon from my babydoll dress.  I love the contrasting florals & the softness of the rayon against my skin is very nice for a summer dress.