Sewing: Gold and Ivory Dress for Audrey

As Audrey's birthday approached this year she informed me it was her "Golden Birthday". I had never heard of such a thing, but evidently it's a thing: 8 on the 8th in her case. Eight is also the year children are baptized into our church, so it is a special birthday we had been anticipating.

I had planned to make Audrey a white dress to celebrate her baptism (as my mother did for me, and is traditional) but when she mentioned her Golden Birthday and I happened to see this amazing gold and ivory jacquard fabric in my hunt for STYLO 2 fabrics, I thought an ivory and gold dress would be perfect for her!

Audrey had a lot of input on the design. I was inspired by this Jacadi dress to design a bodice with what I would call "raglan" sleeves, though that word doesn't seem pretty enough for a dress. And was thinking of a pleated skirt but Audrey didn't like the idea of pleats. So I made a paneled a-line skirt for the dress and added some gold piping for a little more contrast. 

I was so careful about measuring and cutting to get this dress just right. I lined it in the softest gold satin so it would be comfortable. I tried to match up the pattern...I really wanted it to be perfect. (It made me wonder what it might be like to sew wedding dresses for my girls. I wonder if I will do that someday?) But it turns out the metallic thread in this fabric has a mind of its own. When everything was sewn the fabric wanted to curve where it should have been straight, even after a good pressing. So the skirt "bells" a bit at the bottom. (I promptly ordered a book on couture sewing techniques--I bet there is a solution for stabilizing fabric such as this.) 

Oh well. Life is not perfect. But it is still beautiful. She looked beautiful...

(But she doesn't love having her picture taken.)