Debbie's Birthday Dress pattern tour

It seems that I only blog on tour now. Such a traveler for a stay at home mom - eh? Today I'm joining up with the Debbie's birthday dress tour to kick off the first pattern in the new Sewpony vintage shop

Suz, blogger at Sewpony, sent me a happy surprise when I got an email from her about testing her new pattern based off of a cute vintage kids book (Debbie's Birthday Party). She had really just discovered my blog and thought we might be a good match. I immediately said yes based on the shots of her girls wearing their cute dresses. So thanks, Suz! And thanks for stopping by if you came here from the Sewpony blog!

The Debbie's birthday dress pattern comes with two looks, including one with a peter pan collar, and one with strips of trim embellishing the front. Both looks have an a-line silhouette and a clean design sense. The instructions in the pattern are clear and easy to follow. As a person who routinely gets confused by instructions, it means something that I didn't have problems getting my two dresses put together. I was a tester, so this thing has been idiot-proofed. You're welcome, everybody! Ha....

Having no tricky closures and few pattern pieces, this dress could be sewn by a confident beginner. The instructions for the peter pan collar are really good too, and that's the hardest part, I think. 

Having been less than thrilled with the drape of the fabric on Clover's version of the dress (I blogged the pattern test version during kids clothes week), but pleased with how quickly I could produce one of these, I was eager to make a second one in view A for Violet. This pattern seems ideally suited for heavier fabrics with some structure, because the a-line shape really stands out, but it's summertime in swampland here so I went with some light and crisp. It would be a great fall dress in corduroy though.

 

Regarding fit, I used the 18 month size for my petite little thing, but added a strip of paper to the skirt portion of the pattern to lengthen it to the 2 year length. I think the fit at the top is great, and it wound up just a bit too short in length. However, Violet seems to have grown taller recently as we approach her third birthday and might be closer to a 3T length now. Wah! My baby! 

At any rate, the pattern has actually been lengthened slightly also, so the final result in the future will be longer. Not that I might gazing upon my daughter's gorgeous little legs.   

 

 This Indian Summer fabric by art gallery had me hooked from the second I saw it. Violet happened to be on a teepee kick because of a Lone Ranger lego set, and she picked this out for her dress. *fist pump* It looks perfect and feels divine.

I lined the bodice with some peach shot cotton, and used the same as my trim in the front. Sadly, I had nothing here that would work well - no ribbon or lace - and really didn't want to take my kids back to the store to get any. This mama was about ready to pop at 39 weeks pregnant. (We didn't even get the dress photographed until this week! Baby brother was sleeping in his portable crib off camera. Lol.) 

But I thought that making strips of shot cotton to stripe up the front would work well as a modern touch to go with a modern print, and went with it. One thing I love is mixing vintage and modern.   

As I stood over my ironing board muttering and sketching, Clover asked me what I was doing. After telling her I wanted to add an "Omi pocket" (pocket for Violet's ever present Lego minifigure) but didn't know what I wanted to do, she suggested a pocket that looked like a mountain like on the fabric. Bingo! Thanks, tiny genius!

It's pretty undercover, but her pocket IS there. I placed it too far towards her side though and it's not ideal for her to just reach into. Oops. My four year old's idea was better than my execution.

I so totally taped a yard of Birch faux bois fabric up to the wall and did pictures with it. That piece of beauty was originally intended to become a nursing pillow cover, but upon further fabric pairing obsessing, I decided it would be better suited as a backing for my newborn son's Charley Harper blanket. Ahh! Can't wait to see the new fabric line from Birch!

Can't help but include an outtake from this rather vexing photo shoot. What happened to my helpful model? Here she's drawing attention to her butt. In case you couldn't tell. Oi. Such a lady. 

Thanks again to Suz for letting me join in on her (Debbie's Birthday) party. This is the end of the line for it too, but I'm including the schedule of bloggers at the bottom here in case you want to find out where you can see other versions of the dress. There is also a flickr group starting up for the dress.