Arden's Rainbow Birthday Dress

Planning for Arden's Rainbow birthday party has been really fun.  There's no lack of inspiration out there, so when I was getting ready to make her rainbow birthday dress, I showed her my Pinterest board where I had been gathering ideas and she chose from this dress from among them:

Source: White Threads via BurdaStyle

We went to Jo-Ann's and chose the colors.  Arden definitely had her opinions about which ones she wanted!

We did a little photo shoot on a bench in Arden's bedroom.  Hadley kept trying to photo bomb the shoot so many of these are taken with her on my lap.

I used a basic bodice I've used previously and lengthened it into an a-line dress.  Then I sketched swooping lines for the different colors of the rainbow (including pink per Arden's request!).  Then I traced those shapes onto another sheet with seam allowances added on.  you can see a center line and seam allowances in pencil that I added for the back pieces so I could insert a zipper.

I've made plenty of quilts, but never pieced something with curved seams.  I was pleasantly surprised with how well this worked out.  I'm planning to do a quickie tutorial on how I did the seams in this dress.  It would have been interesting to keep track of how many times I swapped out thread colors, as I matched the topstitching to the fabric throughout - even along the zip!

I even managed to get the seams aligned across the zipper - I love it when a project turns out better than you hope!

It's fully lined in the pink fabric.  The timing is great that she can wear this for her birthday, St. Patrick's day coming up and then it should be a fun dress for the summer.

My little rainbow girl!  She called this her most special pose.  I have to agree!

This project was featured on:

    

Linking to:

Mondays Making the World Cuter Monday – Making the World Cuter Made By You Monday – Skip to My Lou Craftastic Monday – Sew Can Do FUNday Mondays – C.R.A.F.T. et al. Market Yourself Monday – Sumo’s Sweet Stuff Creative Me Monday - The Southern Institute Tuesdays I Made It Without My Hubby – Shanty 2 Chic Sew Cute Tuesdays – Better Off Thread Take a Look Tuesdays - Sugar Bee Craft Edition Shwin&Shwin Nap Time CreationsWednesdays We Did It Wednesdays – Sew Much Ado Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice - Seven Thirty Three Show & Tell – Blue Cricket Design Show Me What Ya Got - Not Just a Housewife Your Whims Wednesdays - My Girlish Whims Thursdays Strut-Your-Stuff – Somewhat Simple Make It, Wear It – The Train to Crazy It’s Stinkin’ Cute – Sew Stinkin’ Cute Show Off Your Stuff – Fireflies and Jellybeans Making It With Allie - What Allie's Making Now Pinspirational Thursdays - The ArtsyGirl Connection Fridays Furniture Feature Friday - Miss Mustard Seed Weekend Wrap Up Party – Tatertots and Jello Feature Yourself Friday – Fingerprints on the Fridge Friday Fun Finds – KojoDesigns Weekends Check Me Out Saturday – A Vision to Remember Show and Tell Saturday – Be Different Act Normal Sunday Scoop – I Heart Naptime Sunday Showcase Party – Under the Table and Dreaming A Pinteresting Party - Tutus & Tea Parties Sunday Roundup - A Rosie Sweet Home Just Something I Whipped Up - Project Inspire