The Sephira Zen Birthday Dress! And Two Toned Bias Tape Tutorial!

Before I get all sentimental, because that post is "due" in two days, I just wanted to share with you all Sephira's first birthday dress!  

Are you drooling over that blue fabric?  I was.  It compliments my little Sephira's blue eyes so beautifully.

It was my first (and later second to get more, hahahha) trip to Bolt, an adorable fabric boutique in the Arts District of Northeast Portland on Alberta.  I had been dying to go for a while now, but couldn't afford the splurge.  I got to meet Heather from Well Crafted.  I first saw her stuff when I was looking at this Japanese Pattern Craftlog and I was so impressed!  Then I learned that not only did she live in Portland too, but that she worked at Bolt

You know how you hope to seem put together and awesome when you meet new people?  Well, my girls were against me.  Azriella was running out the front door while I was trying to introduce myself and Sephira was nonstop crying (even though I hid and nursed her for a couple minutes!)

Jon tried to help.  But it was futile: we looked and sounded like crazy people.  I guess it's fair warning to any and everyone we may potentially meet:  We travel in a pack almost always.  And we are loud... almost always, lol.  What can I say? We both come from loud vibrant families!  We play hard with our kids so thusly they are a rough and rumble bunch!

It was a hilarious mess in my head: these sweet quiet Portland ladies, all poised and put together: insert wildebeests (aka, us).  Sigh*  What are you gonna do?!

How do you like my sparkly cupcake applique?!  I feel like a novice when it comes to applique, but I am really proud of how it turned out!  (especially the red cheeks!)

I made a crap load of bias tape (it took most of my Sunday morning).  And speaking of bias tape, take a look at my hem:

 How do you suppose I made that hem??? 

Magic.  

That's all.  Just some ol' fashioned fairy dust.

I'm just kidding!!!

No!  I made (da da da da da da daaaa! {insert jazz hands}):


Two toned bias tape!

Whaaaa??

Yes, I was torn on which color would win the "hem honors", so I decided that it was a tie between red and pinky coral!  

"Well why would you need bias tape for a hem?"

Well, sometimes you need to hem a curve.  And if you want to make it a little more interesting than just a narrow hem, then what are you options?  Bias or trim, right?  The bottom of this dress is curved so naturally bias tape is a great idea.  (Secretly, call me backward crazy, but I was "lazy" not feeling clipping and turning and pressing the hem on the test dress, so I made matching bias tape for that too!  Silly right?  That's my approach to lazy ;-)

Would you like to make some??  The finished width after the center is folded is 5/8" (if you need something different, you are going to have to do some finagling yourself.  If I do this in the future in a different width I will be sure to post it here.)

 If you were to make a different width keep in mind two things:

  1. the two to one ratio is important otherwise you won't see the other color

  2. seam allowance needs to be factored in. I would suggest a seam allowance no bigger than 1/4", unless you are factoring that in too.

Keep in mind that you need to keep the seam allowance pressed towards the red side.

 Folding the coral fabric in about 3/8" instead of to the center as well will ensure that you see it sufficiently from the other side.  Not only that, but you also can attach it the ol' foolproof way: attaching the wider side to the underneath first and then stitch the narrow side afterwards,  This will ensure that you catch both layers!

Yay!  How cool is that!?


Other things I made (because you know I don't just stop at the dress):

They look a little weird on the hanger, but they look soo damn cute, trust me!

stripey ruched leggings...

easy peasy headband with lefover bias.  Too thick for an eyelet so I made a tiny buttonhole instead.  And the bow? the middle isn't sewed to the band so I can move it wherever I please!

Tiny sandals I super modified from Ashley's sandal tutorial.

Hot pink vinyl soles!!

 So what do you think?  Does it say "Yeay!  It's my 1st Birthday!!"?  I hope it does.  I can't believe it doesn't have one ruffle!  Don't worry, Azriella's birthday dress will more than make up for it.

 Happy dress makes me so happy!!!

Now here are some pics of something else I made for Azriella, and awesome layered skirt.  Super fun, mix-matchy prints, ahhhhhhh just my cup of tea!  And a chartreuse shirt?  Does it get much better?!

Here we are at this last Thursday on Alberta:

Can you see the prints?!  "Robot butterflies", flowers, and mushrooms

look at those curls!

I MANAGED TO TAKE A DECENT FAMILY SHOT!  YEAY!!!

Awe, I love my little girl sooooooo much!!!

 Somehow, I got suckered/duped into wearing the Bjorn instead of my SweetPod carrier I made.  Oh well, I made a cover for it too so that it's not just some boring looking Bjorn!

*blush* I've got her heart and she's stolen mine!

That's all for now, but don't worry, there'll be more very soon!!

One more day till her birthday!!!!!!