Happy Birthday Margarida!

My dear sister’s birthday was in the beginning of July and as I promised her when she saw this tunic I made her a Cappuccino Dress as a gift. She´s my best friend, I love her so very much and we have similar taste, but I’m always afraid to give her something that she won’t like so I asked her to choose one of the Nani Iro prints available on Retrosaria (the only shop in Lisbon that sells these wonderful fabrics, that I know of anyway).

This was the first time I worked with Nani Iro fabrics and double gauze. I was so inspired by all the beautiful creations I’ve seen during Miss Matabi’s Nani Iro month last June, that I knew I had to try it. [You can see my favorite creations on Celina, Trinne and Laura’s blogs, such gorgeous garments!!!] Let me tell you that these fabrics are just absolutely amazing!! They are super soft and light but they’re easy to sew, I’m totally hooked! I dream of making clothes collections out of them… All the prints are just perfect! They’re a bit sheer but I haven’t lined the dress and it works perfectly.

My sister chose the Mountain Views – pink & yellow print from Nani Iro’s latest collection and I can tell you that is just beautiful, she does have impeccable taste! I used the Cappuccino Dress pattern from Liesl&Co without the sleeves option. It’s such an easy dress to make. I absolutely love the pockets (the tunic version doesn’t have them), it’s totally my type of dress and the fit is perfect! Looks great on her don’t you think!!? And guess what? My sister loved it too YAY!

Oh, and please don’t be careless like I was when pre-washing these fabrics since you might be heartbroken! You see, my mother bought a piece of another fabric for a project we’re doing together and I decided to pre-wash it at the same time as my sister’s fabric. I was careful and washed the Nani Iro preciousness first, but instead of putting it on the clothesline to dry right away, I placed it on the counter while washing the other fabric. Then I made the most stupid mistake ever (I wasn’t really thinking at that point) and placed the second on top of my sister’s fabric. And surely it stained it in like 4 different places… I panicked!! I couldn’t believe I could be so stupid, but thankfully enough I could find my way through by placing the pattern pieces away from the stains. I felt so relieved for having an extra 50cm of fabric!! 😉

My birthday is on the same day as my sister (no we are not twins) and my mother, that was with me when I bought the fabric for my sister’s dress, bought some Nani Iro for me as a gift; so that I could make one of these dresses for myself (she must have seen my eyes shinning with the sight of such amazing fabric!!). I didn’t manage to find time for mine yet, but it won’t be long for another one of these in a different print appear here on the blog… 😉 😀