Buearam princess dress and blog anniversary give away

Today, one year ago, I posted this post. That post was the official start of my serious blogging. In August last year, I created my first posts on sewing (all back dated to when the clothes had been finished). Since that September first last year, I have blogged frequently, mainly about my sewing projects, and I have loved doing it. This blog is a documentation of my projects, it is like a sewing diary. I use it as a learning tool, during the year I have learned many sewing skills and photographic skills, this blog helps me take on those new challenges. The blog is full of pictures of my kids so it also doubles as a digital photo album.

A one year anniversary asks for a (small party). I am a bit of a minimalist when it comes to parties, but a dress and gifts are the minimum. Lets start with the dress. My daughter has been wearing her Bueram dresses often, very often. When I sewed them, I immediately had four other ones in mind, but (sewing) life got in the way. When my daughter recently requested a dress with floor length, I knew that was the perfect opportunity to sew at least one of the four I planned. A true party dress.

I used the fabric that I also used here, so now there isn't enough for a June for me, but do not feel sorry for me, there is plenty of choice in my fabric stash. The fabric is light blue and it is princess length, so my little one has named it her Elsa dress.

My daughter loves the dress. Based on that Lollipop you might think I had to bribe her for a shoot, but no. Almost the opposite. She had been dying to wear the dress for days, but it was raining all the time when we were home. Without pictures, clothes are not to be worn (perfect policy seeing that she managed to drool over this dress in the 5 minute shoot we had) so she was happy when we ran outside between two showers (see how wet the table is).

Like I said in the introduction of this post, I have learned a lot of new sewing skills. The first Bueram was the first shirred back I sewed. Later, I tested another dress which involved shirring (Dear Prudence) and learned a cool trick on how to make the perfect top row. The secret is an extra piece of elastic that you put in the top row. I did it on this dress and the tops is now simply perfect. I did manage to butcher the bottom shirring rows, my elastic wasn't long enough, and my lines were not straight. I think having a similar extra elastic at the bottom would have created the best look, but that is for next time.

Due to the fact that she will play in the dress, I decided to let it not really lay on the floor. This way, she will not trip and hopefully the bottom hem will not get damaged. She will grow so I made a wide hem to be able to lengthen the dress (and a damaged hem you can not lengthen nicely). The hem is visible because I did it with my machine, I really should have hand sewed it.

Now, over to the other half of the party, the gifts. I wanted a gift that would be clearly connected to my blog. A gift that the readers of my blog would probably like. I thought about what I like to win and my answer was: fabric and patterns.

You all know about my love for jersey. Jersey was the fabric that made me addicted to sewing. I had sewed a few cotton dresses but when I discovered Lillestoff jersey, I became hooked  to sewing. I was over the moon when I came across Joyfits, both transport and meter prizes are better for me than ordering at Lillestoff directly (what I did at first). She doesn't just stock Lillestoff, she has all kind of fun high quality jerseys and most of my jersey stash comes from Joyfits. So, I asked Joyfits if she was willing to sponsor a meter of organic fabric, because the one thing better than jersey is organic jersey.

Looking at my own behavior,  I feel that winning a piece of fabric is somehow more appealing than winning shop budget, strange but still that is how I work. If I see that I can win a meter of fabric I am more intrigued than if I can win the value in euros. So, together with Marloes  (owner of Joyfits) we picked  a great uni-sex fabric. Look at these super cute lions! I am allowed to give a whole meter of this one for free (it is 160 cm wide so you can make a lot of it). I wanted to have an unisex gift because I sew for my son and daughters and assume my readers will like both as well. Besides getting the one meter, she will even send it to you for free (and she will send internationally). It could be that you are actually not like me (how boring would the world be if we were all the same) so, If you do prefer shopping budget or if you would have chosen another fabric, we still want to make you happy. If you win, you are actually allowed to pick your own favorite.

So, how I can I top a meter of organic fabric? What about a meter of organic fabric plus patterns. As with the fabric, I wanted uni patterns and patterns that could be sewn with jersey. Looking at my sewing, it was a logical choice to ask Anne from Sofilantjes if she would be willing to sponsor my give away. Also Anne reacted positively and I am allowed to give away the Omni Tempore and the Domi, her two uni-sex pattern. If you saw my previous post you might want to change your choice to the Otium, to create your own Boy Otium, I suppose she would be up for that.

During the year, I entered some competitions and one of my winning was a set of two flocks and wall sticker from Violette design. This is a great gift, but I can cut my own because I bought a Cameo this year.  I therefore asked Violette design if I would be allowed to transfer the gift to my readers and I was. So the third part of the give away is winning two big flocks for T-shirts (16 cm high) a wall sticker of your choice.

When I did an earlier give away someone told me that she would prefer to win a finished garment, she was physically incapable of sewing.  I promised her that I would sew a dress for her if she would win. I feel that I should also contribute something to the gifts, so if you (for whatever reason) prefer that I sew a garment from the fabric that you won, I will do it. I think it is a very nice package of gifts, I hope you will want to win it.

If you want to enter the give away just use the rafflecopter, another first for me! You do not have to be an official follower of my blog to win the prize (but it would be a great gift to be if you would become a Bloglovin follower), but if you do not react to my winner announcement in the future (I will at least announce twice) than I will draw a new winner. Thank you for reading along this past year, I hope you will stick around.

a Rafflecopter giveaway I love to hear what you think of my creations. Feel free to leave a comment in the language you prefer (although Google translate might have to assist me if you choose something different than English, German, Dutch or Hungarian).