Vintage May sew-along

For the past two weeks I have been admiring gorgeous vintage inspired outfits Jess from Craftiness is Not Optional, Kristin from Skirt As Top and their talented guests have been creating during Vintage May sewing series. I felt inspired by all the gorgeousness these ladies have created and decided to join the sew-along.

I have been working hard making something for Little Monkey and I for my own series You & Me, so I wanted to make something quick and easy this time. In my books Sewpony's Debbie's Birthday Dress pattern is just that - sweet and easy. I have already used this pattern four times to make dresses and a tunic for Little Monkey (you can read about them HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE).

This is how Suz introduced her pattern, "Debbie's birthday dress is a vintage style pattern inspired by my favourite childhood book, Debbie's birthday party, written by Gilbert Delahaye and illustrated by Marcel Marlier, Belgium, 1969". Suitable for Vintage May? I think so.

While she was sleeping, I made a new Debbie's birthday dress for Little Monkey. Because every little girl needs at least five of them in their wardrobe!

I opted for lightweight denim fabric. I just can't get enough of denim lately!

I made this dress is size 3 while my daughter's measurements still put her in size 2, but just. I knew I was taking a risk opting for a larger size, but I wanted to make sure Little Monkey would get a lot of wear out of her new dress and be able to layer it during the cooler months. Making something that would only last her one month didn't make sense at the time, but maybe I should have?

Apart from using a vintage inspired pattern I also used vintage trim. The ribbon I used to embellish the bodice of the dress is from my Babushka's (Grandma's) stash. Sadly, she passed away when I was 15. I remember playing with this ribbon when I was a child!

I used a vintage button for the back closure.

It is hard to see in the photos, but the bodice of the dress is lined with pink vintage inspired fabric I used to make pink floral dresses in THIS post.

There is no better way to do a photo-shoot than to meet up with a sewing blogging friend at Melbourne zoo!

Do you recognise the lovely lady in the photo next to me? It is Renee from Nearest the pin and her gorgeous daughter A. Since discovering each other's blogs Renee and I have become great friends in real life. I cannot put in words how great it feels to be able to talk with a like-mined person in real life! Renee is not only a great sewist, she is a super lovely lady. We have already met a few times, and our kids get along great! Look how cute these girls are!

Little A is wearing the Fawn Lily dress Renee has just made for her. You can read about it HERE.

It was impossible to get the girls to stop for photos, so we cheated a little and got them to roar like lions. They were happy to demonstrate just how loud lions roar!

I have had a lot of fun sewing Little Monkey's new dress and even more fun photographing it! Thank you Renee and A for such a wonderful day!