2 or 52 - Every Girl Needs a New Birthday Dress

For years - I have made myself a new dress for my birthday.  I always wear it on my birthday and again and again though the years.  The birthday dress generally becomes one of my favorites.  

This year's birthday dress is no exception.  

This year - after making 2 version of the Appleton dress as tester versions and another (which still hasn't been blogged - but has been really this years) that I like but don't love, I was determined to make an appleton that I love!  And I did it with this one.  

The fabric is from Fabric Mart and the recent all the florals kick I went on this summer.  The fabric is a navy ITY with pink and white flowers all over it!

This time I read the instructions!  DOH!  All previous versions of this dress that I didn't love Are.My.OWN.Fault!  I am an idiot - who often thinks she knows what she's doing when in fact she doesn't have a clue.  

The first three (THREE!!) versions of this dress where made with ponte fabrics.  They weren't super stable pontes, but they didn't have the stretch the pattern required.  Then, I sewed them up with 1/2" seams!  Reading Comprehension Starts with Reading!!  Um - yea, so firmer fabric and larger seams will result in a dress that it's a bit closer fitting than I like - but good results for Krystle!  

This time, I took a step back, read the instructions, remeasured myself, retraced the dress and sewed with the correct seam allowances (they are 3/8 by the way). 

My birthday was on a Thursday this year.  The dress was cut out on Sunday night, but I ran out of time to sew.  So, Monday after dinner, I headed downstairs.  All I managed to accomplish in an hour was to clean and thread the sewing machine and serger, put in new needles, wind a bobbin, test thread and stitches, finish the front skirt edges and sew the shoulder seams.  Didn't feel like much.

On Tuesday, I went downstairs after dinner and set up again.  This time I set the sleeves in and sewed up the side seams.  I also got the bands put together.

By Wednesday it had to get finished.  I stitched, turned and attached the ties, put the facing on, sewed up the side seams, and hemmed the sleeves and hem. 

As you can see - the dress still doesn't fit perfectly - but it's good enough and I love it!  I have since retraced the dress from the arms down removing the grading between sizes that I did unnecessarily.  

I feel comfortable in this dress and have worn it with my pale pink shoes a couple of times since my birthday already!  

The moral of this story?  Start by reading and don't give up!