Indigo's adorable party dress was an early birthday present from her Nana Miller! She picked it up at Donna's Dress Shop, a vintage clothing store in Kansas City, MO, where Kate's (my sister-in-law-ish? What do you call your brother-in-law's wife?) parents recently moved. They all went down there for a visit over the holidays. I'm pretty jealous that they had the opportunity to visit that shop, because it looks awesome! They hand stamp their bags, which I love. It's such a creative way to add a small, handmade touch to each purchase.

And the dress, I just cannot get over it. Handmade vintage always astounds me, mostly because of how abundant it is, and the pieces are always executed so expertly. Sewing was abviously a much more common skill only decades ago that has largely gone by the wayside, sadly. I think things are starting to trend back in that direction, though, which is exciting. 

Anwyays, isn't it adorable? I love the combination of the blues and greens and the brown ric-rac. This dress is perfect as is, I didn't have to do a single thing to it.

I think I'll pair it with her moccasins (which she is rapidly outgrowing! Nooooooooo!). I think it's safe to say I'm a little jealous of my own daughter's wardrobe. She definitely has more cute clothes than me, haha. 

My wardrobe is pretty seriously lacking in pieces that I feel are representative of me these days, so I wanted to get a dress for myself for Indy's birthday party as the beginning step in an endeavour to collect and sew some clothing to try and make my wardrobe into something that makes sense to me. Fashion isn't everything, certainly, but it's a mode of self expression that I appreciate, so I'd like to bring it in as a minor element in the blog here and there.

I grabbed this dress from Flour Clothing on etsy. It's a beautiful, handmade traditional mexican pullover dress. I fell for the gorgeous embroidery and the crisp, natural cotton. When I tried it on, I felt like the hem was a little long and I wasn't a huge fan of the flutter sleeves, so I made some minor adjustments. 

I added some ruching to the sleeves with elastic, and I took the hem up several inches. As a rule when working with vintage, I think it's worthwhile to make changes non-destructuve to the garment when possible. Both of these changes are easily undone (the hem I folded up and pressed, and then used the blind hem stitch on my machine to make nearly invisible and easily removable stitches). 

I'm definitely happy with the result, especially when worn. I'll give you a peek at Indy's dress tomorrow!