A Stitching Odyssey: A little dress for the BIG Three Oh!

There's no easy way of saying this, so I'll just do it quickly like ripping off a plaster - I turned 30 on Saturday! Some of you may already know of course, as Sonja has already outed me on her blog! I can't say I was looking forward to it (look at that uncertain face below), but some HD Brows, a new haircut, loads of presents, cards and phone calls, as well as partying with wonderful friends, certainly took the edge off!

I also made myself a little, aztec-print dress for the occassion, which turned out way cuter than I thought it would. I warn you now that you will be seeing more of these...the jersey love is back folks! This was my first time using Sew U Home Stretch by Wendy Mullin and I can already see how versatile all the patterns are. I used the boat-neck bodice from the 'Yacht to Trot' dress and re-drafted the skirt according to the 'Pretty Baby-doll' dress.

The tulip sleeves, inspired by Dixie DIY's self-drafted dress, are my favourite feature. Not only do I love the cross-over detail, I think the overall shape is very flattering and adds enough volume to the arms and shoulders to perfectly balance out the hips. This wasn't planned, but it was an unexpected bonus.

Believe it or not, the sleeves were taken from Simplicity 1813, a 1940s pattern. I cut them out exactly as they were and they ended up fitting the existing armhole perfectly. I was fully expecting to have to re-draft them to fit, so that was a happy coincidence too! The slightly annoying thing is that I followed the sleeve instructions closely, but I still managed to sew them on back-to-front. But life is too short to sweat the small stuff! I am 30 now you know ;o) And anyway, I like them as they are...a bit of back detail is never a bad thing in my book!

I really must apologise for the quality of some of these photos, but it was grey and drizzling on the day. And since then for that matter! I just wanted to show you the back too, to prove that this is quite a flattering style overall, because I wasn't convinced that gathered jersey would look that good.

Here's a nice close up so you can actually see the colour and print of this jersey. Despite only costing £4 p/m from Leicester market, this is one of the nicest jerseys I've worked with  - I'm convinced it's 100% cotton as it's very soft and non-sweaty.

So it turns out that turning 30's not that bad really, especially when you have a cute dress to see you through the day!