the only drawback to having four awesome nieces (split into two sets of sisters) is that i am almost always sewing the same pattern multiple times in a row. i mean giving one girl a twirly polka dot dress and not having one for her sister? only a monster would do that. so pretty much the only time i make just one of something is for each girls birthday.

this began when maya turned one. my sister was having some working mom guilt at the time for feeling like she wasn't throwing her daughter a 'pinterest perfect' birthday party.

being an amazingly thoughtful and awesome little sister i offered to make the birthday girl a special outfit for the day to go with the balloon theme of the party. (bubbles, balloons, and any other floating spherical objects were far and away maya's favorite things at the time.)

when the wonderful local fabric store didn't have anything that fit the bill i turned to the internet. the instant i saw this adorable balloon fabric i knew it would be perfect and promptly put in an order.

i intended on making the birthday party dress (fitting right?) from oliver + s. however new england weather had other plans and proceeded to drop 28 inches of snow on cambridge, delaying the arrival of my fabric a few days.

love aunt maggie | maya's first birthday a

(okay that photo doesn't really capture the situation but it's the only one i have.)

when the fabric arrived i had exactly 24 hours before the dress needed to be in the mail heading to michigan. (by the way i have never had any issues with fabric.com shipping, including this time. they are great and this was definitely due to the weather.)

love aunt maggie | maya's first birthday b

so with one night to make the dress i hunkered down with a oatmeal stout and turned to a tried and true pattern: the music box jumper. as with all oliver + s patterns it turned out fantastic, and the birthday girl looked quite festive for her big day.