Sephira's Rainbows & Lolipops! 4th Birthday dress!!!

Helllllllllloooooooooooo!!!  I know I know, I know what you are going to say: "WHAT THE HELL, KAT? Where have you been?!" And I would have to admit that I have been doing lots of things and lots of sewing, but I also made it a mission over the summer to live in the moment with my children and not be a drone compelled by my phone.  I did a lot of disconnecting from social medias and that had it's good points and bad points... the bad ones being that I left a lot of people wondering where I found the edge of the world that I had so clearly fallen off.  And worse, I am sure there were many who just didn't notice that i disappeared into ether.

I've done a few posts for The Sewing Rabbit, but it wasn't until recently that I realize I haven't posted here since June!!! Color me embarrassed! Well, let's remedy that, shall we!?!

Sephira's 4th Birthday dress!

Most of this year I have been focused on improv piecing.  It all started with this dress.  When I asked what she wanted for her dress this year, she said "PINK!" 

Now, I'll be the first to admit that pink is not my favorite color.  If we're talking neon, sure.  But I took on the challenge to make a badass pink dress. 

We found this fabric at Fabric Depot and it was the source of our inspiration.  Right after finding it, I wandered over the the Home Dec fabrics and found these two gems hiding behind several large bolts. The neon pink and electric yellow laminated cottons are soooo dreamy.  I was pretty sad I couldn't afford to just buy the rest of the bolts; I fell head over heels for them!  On a later visit, and further inspection of the Lecien rainbow fabric, I noticed it was missing some green... and purple.  I found these two striped fabrics that I thought worked together so well.

Off to Pinterest to figure out how to improv piece!  I had seen many a quilt use this technique, but not so many garments.

I worked together a long bias stripe for the middle of the circle skirt and used nylon organza for the hem binding, similar to this look.

It was completely self drafted, something that used to be sort of my signature, but also something I feel I had gotten away from.  This dress was a way for me to reignite my roots in an innovative way.

It's so so adorable!  The contrast of the shiny vinyl fabrics mixed with the matte cottons give off a really cool effect without compromising wearability.

Win, win!

I have done many an improv piece since this dress and I can't wait to share more with you!  

What do you guys think?  Festive enough for a birthday dress?!  I'd love to hear from you all!  

Until next time!

Hugs and stitches and smooches,

Kat