Anniversary Dress

Every year on our anniversary, my husband and I take photos together. I had the idea just a few months into our marriage, and he has begrudgingly gone along with it since. I have a photo from each year framed on our wall, and I think it is the beautiful journey of love and growth.

Anyways, our fourth anniversary was in September. I started thinking about the photos back in July, and I started thinking about what to wear. Every year, that question is the bane of my existence. I try to find outfits for my husband and I that are both flattering, and coordinate somehow. This year, I decided we should both wear blue. Since I have been sewing so much, I thought I could make my own dress to wear. Easy, right?

I ordered a pattern online on August 19th. Our anniversary is September 16th. So with less than a month to spare, I had to wait for the pattern to arrive, I had to find the perfect fabric to go with it, and I had to make it. And make it perfectly.

I made Simplicity 1354, which is a sleeveless dress with back interest, and it's part of Simplicity's Amazing Fit line. I decided not to make a muslin of it first, because I had so little time, so I bought enough fabric to almost make two dresses just in case. I didn't need it though. This dress came out perfectly the first time around.

I absolutely love it. It fits well, is flattering, and is very comfortable. Oh! And it has pockets!! I love the back detail. The little band at the top of my back is closed with three little buttons. The only thing I don't love about this dress is the hem. I think it hangs a little bit funny. Perhaps a hand stitched blind hem would have worked better, but I hemmed this dress about 2 hours before we were supposed to meet our photographer. Whoops...

I had also thought about sewing a shirt for my husband. If I had found two coordinating fabrics, I probably would have, but instead I found a fabric that worked well with a shirt he already had. Less stress for me!