In an attempt to try and forge a better relationship between myself and birthdays, I figured this year it might be fun to sew something really bright and colourful to get myself into a better mindset for the year. Although we’ve seen a few birthday outfits before, last year was the first time I made something a little shorter and cuter. Although it didn’t turn out quite how I wanted, it has inspired me to this year make another mini dress and have a bit of fun for my birthday. So here we are; in order to figure out what it means to be 33, we will be sewing a cute summery birthday dress.

When I decided I’d make a birthday dress, I honestly had no idea what I wanted to make. As I’m a visual learner, I find that if I start to rummage and look through my fabric and pattern stashes, I’ll eventually land on the project I want to make. The first thing I started to look at was my fabrics; although my stash may seem sizeable, most of the fabrics have a project already in mind for them, so I avoided those and then looked to what cute fabrics were left. Eventually, I spotted this cotton fabric, which was more than perfect. From Melody Miller’s Rise & Shine line, I had three meters of the Sundream in Buttercup Japanese cotton fabric, which I purchased ages ago from The Crafternoon Shoppe. This fabric was bright, bold, fun and really soft; I couldn’t have been happier with the quality of the cotton, which made the biggest difference when crafting.

With our fabric chosen, it was time to find the perfect pattern to keep the cuteness factor but also something comfortable, easy to wear and flattering. I had originally thought about using a vintage pattern as most are quite cute and short, especially from the 60s and 70s, but after a few recent failed pattern attempts with shorter styles, I didn’t feel very confident about it turning out how I wanted and I didn’t want to waste the good fabric (yeah I know I can make a muslin to get the pattern to fit but honestly when it’s just an unflattering style on your body shape there isn’t much I can do). That is when I rediscovered the pattern Cynthia Rowley X Simplicity 1873.

Now, we have seen this pattern on the blog before, way back in 2022, and it’s a dress I wear quite often; I love the fit but have often thought about how the patterns mini skirt option looks particularly cute, so that’s what I decided to do. I wanted to use Cynthia Rowley X Simplicity 1873 and mix and match the patterns to make a cute little birthday dress. Cynthia Rowley X Simplicity 1873 consists of a few possible garment creations; it has three dress options and two jacket/bolero options. In my first attempts at this pattern, I never used the actual skirt pattern and opted for a gathered skirt, so this time, I was keen to make the shorter pleated skirt option (dress C). Dress C included a short pleated skirt, a scoop round neckline, no sleeves and cute waist side tabs for extra detail. One of my favourite parts of my first attempts at the dress was the cuteness of the sleeves; I know they took a while to put together, but really, it’s just a few extra darts and my sewing is a little faster these days. To make my birthday dress, I wanted to add the sleeves from Dress A to Dress C and with that, we were ready to go. As always, I wanted to make size 12 as this fits me perfectly last time.

One of the biggest reasons I don’t always use the skirt pattern pieces a pattern provides is because my fabric is often too narrow or short. Especially when it comes to vintage skirts, large pieces of fabric (even more depending on the pattern of the fabric) are costly, and I often just hoard my fabric for future projects, meaning I’m limited to what I already have on hand and can’t add extra. As I really wanted to make Cynthia Rowley X Simplicity 1873’s pleated skirt design, I spent ages planning out my pattern pieces to make sure all grainlines and pattern directions were consistent. This meant that my fabric was folded in a wide range of ways, and certain pieces were cut out in certain ways to best utilise the fabric. I also wanted the option to have a cute little bandana, so I squared off the last of the spare fabric so I could make a bandana at a later date. Somehow, the four yards I had was just enough (if you ignore one of my pocket pieces having to be cut sideways, but no one knows). Oh, and it’s also self-lined!

Sew, let’s get started. Cynthia Rowley X Simplicity 1873 is a relatively simple pattern. The bodice is basic darts, with the construction method being nothing out of the ordinary. I did toy around with the idea of using plain yellow cotton as the inner lining but decided to just save it for a future project, which meant that I self-lined the dress using the same dress fabric. This just makes the dress a little more fun to wear, and having soft cotton against my skin feels better than the polyester linings I used to use. With this pattern, I’d also note that due to the shape of the cap sleeves, when I made my first attempts at the pattern, I used polyester lining for the sleeves, which was really visible, so this time, I just used the dress fabric. This made all the difference, and being able to reduce fabric waste by just using up all the material on hand was a relief, knowing the huge pile of fabric scraps haunting my sewing room cupboard.

Although I was apprehensive about the sleeves, it turns out I was right in thinking that as my skills with sewing have improved, the sleeves were really simple to make and were just a bunch of darts. The sleeves sat well into the bodice of Dress C as I was worried it wouldn’t line up, seeing it was designed for Dress A. One particular feature of this dress that I think is cute and gives a retro touch is the pair of side waist tabs, which are buttoned down. This also means you may need two buttons to add to your project, which, if you remember back to my Sou’West Vintage Fest sewing project, was already an issue as I have limited buttons available. I ended up pinning various button options to the dress to see what looked better over the next few days, but in the end, I decided to sacrifice the buttons of this project as I’ve been planning on reworking the dress and was going to remove some buttons anyway.

With the bodice done, it was time to focus on the skirt with her fun pleated design. I began by laying out all the skirt pieces and marking (using the pattern pieces as a guide) where the pleats were to go. The pattern makes it really easy to follow, and after I pinned the pleats where they should go, I gently pressed them with the iron. All pleats were baste stitched down before I went about sewing the sides down. As I knew I wanted pockets, I figured out where the side seams were, pinned and sewed the pockets in before sewing up the rest of the skirt side seams. It was here that I also hemmed my skirt as it was pretty straightforward, and with a final press over the pleats again, I then attached the skirt to the bodice, and the dress was also most. The last thing I needed to add was a back zip, and luckily, I had a great colour match in the perfect length.

This dress turned out so freaking cute, and I love it so much. As I’m starting to get more comfortable trying different silhouettes and dress shapes, the mini skirt feels like a really good length because I can bend over and move around without flashing my pantaloons. The pleats gave the dress some fun movement, and I really enjoyed running around and frolicking in this dress. Although I didn’t wear her for my actual birthday, we just stayed at home, and it was too hot to be wearing much, but I have taken her out for a weekend spin. The dress is a little bright and loud, which I sometimes find a bit much, but I’m also trying to try new things, so here we are.

The bodice was a good fit, and for the first time in ages, I didn’t feel like I was being pancaked in the chest by a pattern. The bodice was super comfortable, and I really love the little button tabs on the side. I am already wondering if I could get some larger self-covering buttons and use those for the future makings of this dress, but maybe that’s just a fun brain tangent to remember one day. With these sleeves, I will note, you can’t easily raise your arms, so if you want to wear this pattern to go dancing or somewhere where movement is paramount, this is not the pattern for that occasion. Despite this, I felt pretty comfortable in the dress all day, and my hubby thought it was cute, which made me feel good.

This is the kind of pattern an enthusiastic begging can get through. It’s not overly challenging, but if you have time to take it slow and make sure everything is done well, it’s only the basic skills you need. If you are a beginner at sewing, this might be a great pattern to look into. I’m really glad that I got to try this pattern again and make it feel fresh and new again; I honestly think I like this sunny short version a little more than my original creation of this dress. This dress has also gotten me curious about just trying different silhouettes in general, but we will see what happens next in the sewing room.

Note: This is not a sponsored post. All opinions and thoughts expressed are solely my own and not influenced in any way. There are no affiliate links and I do not benefit from any link clicks or purchases made.