The Anniversary & The Dress

Hello everyone. I hope that all is well with you. As I was making my dress for mine and my husband’s anniversary date, our song came on, and it got me thinking about marriage and the ideas behind it, as well as how to sustain it. As many walk down the aisle to say I do to the person of their dreams, many are long past that stage and hoping to maintain that connection that created sparkles in their eyes and hoping to still be happy with the decision they made so long ago. Many fail to realize that after the “I Do’s” and the honeymoon is over real life begins. Real personalities shine through, and you are now responsible for more than just yourself. You notice more pet peeves than when you were just dating, and you must now figure out how to accept the things about your spouse that has turned them into someone you did not know they were. You finally realize that you are now officially married. This is often the time when you decide to run away or stay for the good fight. Many feel that if you date for a long time before you get married then you will learn everything and when you marry nothing will change. News flash, MARRIAGE CHANGES THINGS.” It is however how you deal with the challenges of marriage that will determine how successful your marriage will be.

Today I celebrated eight years of marriage with my best friend, my lover, the father of my children, and my partner in life. Eight years of marriage is not that long, especially when you are surrounded by couples whom have been married for 20+ years. However, as I have been told, we have beaten the seven year itch (whatever that means). My husband is not perfect and neither am I, but I love our relationship. Even during the days that we are both at our wits end, and can not stand each other, our love and ability to communicate effectively always brings us back together. We also share two beautiful children whom remind us everyday to cherish life, because it goes by so fast. They also give us a reason to work and fight harder to maintain what we have.

Our arrows. They make life fun, unpredictable, and insane, and we wouldn’t want to live life without them.

Now, as the children come along, your marriage is tested even more, because now you have to decide us or the kids. What many fail to realize is that you don’t and should not have to choose, you can be successful at both, if you are married to someone that is understanding and willing to learn how to compromise. For instance, my husband and I do not get the opportunity to have a lot of alone time (alone time together is so important to a marriage), but we make it work. We meet up for daytime lunch dates while the kids are at school, and we also put the kids to bed early on some nights so that we can have time together. Now that the kids are older, we are also making sure to go out at least once a month together. The kid’s idea of marriage will come from how they see us interact, so it is important to give them an example of the marriage that we hope they will one day have. My marriage is not perfect, no marriage is; but like everything in life, if BOTH people work hard at it, it will last.

Well, this past weekend, my husband and I hit the town for our anniversary, and as you all may know by now if you’ve been following my blog, I had to sew the perfect dress for the occassion. I found the perfect fabric at Joanns, it was a gorgeous foiled floral scuba knit.

I am so in love with this fabric 😍😍😍 that I just want to frame it. Lol!

Pattern used: I used Butterick pattern 6094 as you can see in the photo above.

Alterations: I made a shorter circle skirt for the bottom of the dress instead of the flared skirt with the petticoat that the pattern came with. I loved the vintage look of the dress, but I wanted to make it a little more youthful and sexy.

Was it easy to sew?: It was very easy to make this dress, just make sure that you follow the sizing on the pattern itself instead of the back of the envelope, or your dress will not fit the way that you want it to.

What I wish I did differently: I wish that I had used a solid color for the facing of the dress, so that the folded back would stand out more. Next time I’ll know better.

I just want to say thank you guys for reading, liking, and following my blog. I can’t tell you how much it means to me. I would also like to say Happy Anniversary to the love of my life. I pray that we celebrate many more.

#fashion #textiles #Family #mccalls #blog #DIY #Projects #Sewing #Fun