Currently: Darci: BIRTH.DAY.DRESS

(In my head I'm singing BIRTH.DAY.DRESS to the same tune of Jeremiah's song "Birthday Sex" - random fact I thought you might find interesting.)

I literally finished my birthday dress 30 minutes before dinner reservations at Tapas Barcelona last night. That doesn't mean that the reservation was kept :), but I've never worked on a dress until the very last minute like I did on Saturday.

This dress was a labor of love, and it all began with this pattern:

I have to admit, I was pretty nervous about the outcome because of the reviews I read on patternreview.com. I always do that though. I'm never confident enough in my skillset, and usually put off patterns I think are going to be time consuming, or difficult, or... whatever. Not this time though. My BIRTH.DAY.DRESS was going to be special.

The idea was that I was going to make sure to use mixed materials to get the most interest out of the design elements in this dress. I was drawn to the beautiful lines that the piping created, drawn to the full skirt (though it's not my normal silhouette), drawn to the possibilities that this dress presented.

I had three fabrics that I wanted to use. A beautiful grey, black and royal blue rayon blend from JoAnne's, a textured sheer, and a beautiful black woven material that has a subtle sheen. Now when I bought the rayon, I had no idea what I was going to use it for, but it really jumped out at me.
The other two fabrics were in my stash. Having a stash comes in so handy at times.

I knew that because this dress was special, I wanted to use special techniques on it. Because the shoulder areas were sheer, I finished the seams with a french hem.

This picture makes me dizzy... :(

I hand basted many of the layers together including the areas that needed piping.

Did I mention I chose to make my own bias vs. my usual easy way of purchasing binding?

I promise I know how to measure in a straight line!

The outcome is a dress that I'm going to treasure for years to come. It was so fun and flirty, and I can see how easily I can pair it with a cardi for work, or a blazer, OR with a fun clutch and a fab pair of shoes for a night out (which is exactly what I did)!

Shoes: Nine West
Clutch: Claire's Boutique on super sidewalk sale
Earrings: old, old, old.

At dinner we were so late for our original reservations (due to my last minute sewing and pressing) they cancelled our reservation. We would have had to wait in a popular packed restaurant for an open table. So we left. We ended up at a random little spot that had no wait, and was BYOB. We popped our champagne and enjoyed our delicious meal, including the amazing mussels.

NOM!

We ended up having a great time with friends who came to celebrate with me. I felt amazing the whole night. The hubs even wore a complementary outfit!