Ava turned 5 on Valentine’s Day! I can hardly believe it. Time definitely flies when you’re having fun. Since she was two, I’ve made her a birthday dress every year and this year was no different. For my creative process, I’m usually inspired by a textile first and then I search for a pattern or shape that would suit the fabric well. I was actually inspired by iridescence in general this time. I did a quick search for iridescent fabric and came across some iridescent sequin variations. The one that caught my eye the most was this one from Mood Fabrics. I knew that fabric would work great and it would have high impact visually! When it arrived I was amazed that the wrong side of the sequins was actually matte white.  You could actually “write” on the fabric by flipping parts of it up.

My next decision would be how I could turn this crazy fabric into a cute birthday dress for my five year old. I knew it would have to be a simple silhouette. I mean, I really just wanted a shape that would showcase the fabric and in turn also be practical. I let it marinate a bit, and finally thought, a shift dress would be perfect!

Now that I had an idea about how I’d want the final dress to look, I needed to find a pattern that would get me there. I searched through my pattern collection and came up empty handed. I knew I was going to have to get a little creative here. I’m not sure exactly how I thought of this, but I realized that the Jump Rope Dress pattern by Oliver + S actually had a very similar silhouette to what I wanted. The only problem would be the button placket. After taking a look at the pattern, without the placket it was actually the perfect simple shift dress.

Then, I needed to figure out what kind of opening I could use to compensate for the omitted button placket. I quickly settled on a key hole opening in the back. An easy technique I knew would work perfectly.

At this point, I was ready to start actually constructing the dress. I cut a size 5 of the sequin fabric and the lining fabric, a white satin. My plan of action was actually to fully construct the dress both in sequin and in the lining fabric and then join them at the neckline. That way, it’d be fully lined. It worked perfectly.

I wanted to include a tie of some sort to keep the keyhole closed. At first I thought I’d use a ribbon, but I just wasn’t completely satisfied with that. Then, I remembered I actually had a really pretty magenta colored vintage lace hem tape in my stash waiting to become something great. Bingo! It was perfect. I sandwiched that between the lining and the sequin fabric at the back neckline. It added a little delicacy to it all.

I had such a good time making this dress. There’s something magical about taking pieces of fabric and turning them into something so special. It gets me every time. I think that’s why I’ve stuck with sewing for so long, It’s MAGICAL!

Make sure to follow me on social media for plenty of behind the scenes photos that don’t make it to the blog! xoxo