every year i seem to forget how hard it is to blog in December.  the weather and daylight are bad for photography (especially for those of us with daytime away-from-home jobs), weekends are packed with activities, and the sewing that is done this month is almost all Christmas-gift-related.  SO.  while i am busy behind the scenes elving it up in my basement sewing lair, i thought i’d haul out an unblogged project i’ve been meaning to show you for months!

this is Em’s 5th birthday dress.

i think it perfectly captures her personality on the day in May that she turned 5 years old.

the dress is the Oliver + S Roller Skate Dress.  it’s a 3T with 4T length, just like the first one i made.  the pink base is kona cotton, and the appliqué was ALLLLL Em’s idea.

she designed the rainbow scene herself.  i asked her to show me what she wanted me to make her for her dress, and she drew one with a giant rainbow on the front and a pot of gold and a sun and clouds.  the rainbow on her sketch took up the entire front of the dress, so that’s what i did!

to make the appliqué, i made a half moon shape out of freezer paper, then lines for each color within it.  i used the large template for one fabric color, then trimmed away the outer already-used ring to make the next color, then trimmed that one away, and so on.  after i zigzagged each color to the one before it (orange to red, yellow to orange, etc), i trimmed away the center excess fabric so it wasn’t too bulky.  then i stuck it all on there with steam-a-seam lite and zigzagged around the outside.

she also insisted on a sunshine and clouds with rain coming from them (the rain is drawn on lightly with fabric marker).  yep, that’s my girl.  pink and rainbows galore…

oh and a cupcake button.  hehe.

the dress is lined with more rainbows (a supersoft vintage sheet i also lined Avery’s dress with).

and atop her 5 year old head – a birthday crown!

i’m in love with Maureen Cracknell’s ADORABLE and very reasonably priced birthday crowns and fully intended to order one for Em’s birthday, but forgot to do it in time.  soooo i ended up making my own definitely-not-as-good version the night before her party (because that’s always how it goes with sewing mamas, right – whipping stuff up at midnight?).

some felt, some flowers, some shiny ribbon, and it was done, and she was pleased.  she wore it at school all day on her birthday – her teacher was so nice to let her do that!

her whole party was rainbow/pink themed of course, per her request.  i made a few rainbow banners (an excellent use of scraps, this one now hangs in her room)…

there were rainbow balloons…

cupcakes with a rainbow candle and rainbow sprinkles and a rainbow table mat…

you know, the usual.

it was fun, she was giddy in pinkandpurplerainbowland, and now i’m craving short sleeves and springtime when winter hasn’t even really started yet!  GAH.

thanks a lot for the nostalgia, SELF.  😉