Awesome Birthday Dress!!!!

My Oona pic---there is a
jello shot in there!

Can I just tell you how much I LOVE LOVE LOVE this dress???  This is the Burdastyle Colorblock dress from the February 2012 issue #117A/B. There have been so many fantastic versions all around the web that I bought this issue immediately upon seeing the first one. Yes...that was back in February. Color ideas and fabrics have been brewing the entire time. I knew I wanted black and chartreuse and fuchsia..but the fourth color was a mystery to me. I thought maybe gray, or maybe repeat the chartreuse and pink somewhere else...but nothing was working right. Then the thanksgiving sale email from Gorgeous Fabrics came in and showed the super fun houndstooth doubleknit and I knew that was it. All the other fabrics were pontes and as far as I can tell from research around the web, pontes and doubleknits are pretty much the same. I knew it was important that all the fabrics have the same weight.

The chartreuse ponte is from Fashionista Fabrics (so sad they are going out of business!), the fuchsia ponte is from Sawyer Brook fabrics, the black ponte roma is from Joann's...I always have a stash of it, and the houndstooth came from Gorgeous Fabrics as I wrote above.

I got the amazing sparkly riri zipper when I went to the garment district in New York at Pacific Trimmings. I have seen those sparkly zippers going for $40 for a mere 18" length! I got that 36" length for only $22! I think it's amazing. I just hemmed the dress to the exact length of the zipper. Also, I cheated..I did not make the zipper functional. I just sewed the back up and topstitched the zipper on.

This was my first Burdastyle pattern ever! And thank goodness I chose this one since it was the class pattern for the issue. I'm not sure I would have figured it out otherwise. But I feel much more confident in making Burdastyle patterns now..I always shied away because I did not know what size to make and if I want to make a Burdastyle one, I cannot just open the pattern and go, I have to trace and add seam allowances, etc. No worries! All that is over now! Size 34 worked perfectly. I only added 3/8" seam allowances and took a 5/8" at the top of the neck tapering back out to just 3/8" by the shoulder blades and the rest of the way down. I added 3/8" seam allowance by cutting with this seam allowance guide attached to my rotary cutter. That way I did not have to trace pattern pieces again! This wonderful guide was sooo easy to use! It was the first time I tried it and I will be using it with every Burdastyle pattern from now on. See my notion review of this gadget here.



I did make a muslin, out of my crappy muslin knit...and yikes! Yikes! My husband said it was a Stegosaurus  dress..it literally had two large lumps going down the back...but also I was not being careful...just serging things up willy nilly and with all the patchwork...I definitely got my seams off some.

For some reason, no other reviewer notes this, but you have to pay very close attention to the diagrams. Because of all the angles and strange shaped pieces, you have to overlap and underlap some pieces without matching the edges or they won't line up straight...it's kind of like patchwork for quilting with 60 degree angles. I was extremely careful with the measuring and overlaps on the real version...and it turned out so well!

These are my shoes from
 metrostyle..click for source

Because I made the zipper non functional, it is a bit of a squeeze to get on but is still manageable. I hand sewed the three snaps on to the front about 1 hour before my birthday party began...I'm always so last minute! But the neckline is great and does not gape at all...I even took a rock on picture so you could see the non-gaping.

no gaping!

side views

back views

You can check out my pattern review here.

You can check out my post on Burdastyle.

Also, check out the link on Kollabora.

Lastly, my makeup! Readers of my blog know I used to be a makeup artist before I became a lawyer, and my opportunities to do fun makeup are few and far between so I take full advantage!

why am I tanner in this pic than below?

I really need to learn how to use photoshop..not only might that hair in the
middle of my face be gone if I knew photoshop, I might also be the same color
as I am in the other makeup picture above

I used:

Nars eyeshadow primer, Mr. Frosty by Benefit creamy pencil, Mac Chartreuse pigment, Nars Bladerunner dark green in crease, Lancome Action liquid liner on bottom, clear sparkle liquid liner from NYX on top covered with loose Chartreuse glitter from Mac and several coats of Maybelline Full N Soft Mascara. I also used an angled brush in Mac carbon shadow to line the inner rim of the lower lid. Powder sticks to the water line better than a pencil liner and lasts longer.

My lips you can see above were completely lined and filled in with Mac Magenta lipliner and then covered with a light pink sparkly gloss that I have had so long I don't even know what brand it is or color anymore! It is all rubbed off!

I had a wonderful party but the big fun is on Wednesday...my official actual 30th Birthday! I will be having an epic birthday giveaway. My giveaway has 30 things! One big winner will get all 30 items! Be sure to tune in Wednesday for a chance to win.

Thank you all who came to my party! I had such a great time! And a special thanks to my husband for throwing it for me. It is my first birthday party since my 23rd..and it was amazing! You are the best!