When Clare announced that she wanted her birthday to be a “colour party” she also decided that her dress would have to include every colour.  We found some cotton at Spotlight that met with her approval and combined it with pattern-testing Nicole Mallalieu‘s new Tulip dress.

It’s such a cute design! Looks lovely on, and like all of Nikki’s patterns it is drafted beautifully to work on a real 3-D body not just flat. The pattern is full of tips on how to fit the pattern pieces together and add a professional finish. As always, I will add a disclaimer – Nikki and I are friends, but that is not why I praise her patterns. They are just extremely good!

Clare was extremely happy in her dress. It features contrast binding around the sleeves and as a flat piping around the waistline. The pleats at the front and back combine with a pegged skirt to give the tulip shape, and there is a back vent for movement. I know that this pattern is in the final stages and will appear in Nikki’s shop any day now.

So on to the rainbows! I made Clare a cake that was meant to be like one in the Women’s Weekly’s famous birthday cake cookbook. As a cake decorator I make an excellent seamstress, but the kids still loved it.

Actually, I suspect that they preferred the fairy floss clouds around it to the actual cake. Mind you, so would I.

The party was a blast. Extremely hot outside, so lots of time spent inside, but we did all the traditional party games – musical statues, pin the cloud on the rainbow, pass the parcel, magic tricks, a craft activity, and lots of party food. Traditional party food – pink lemonade, fairy bread, sausage rolls, chips, meringues, frankfurts, party bags full of lollies. One child vomited so I suspect that is the sign of a great seven year old party.

Whew, now I need to relax! However, I have another two incarnations of the Tulip dress to sew (I’ve already made a sleeveless version for Stella I’ll show you later). I hope that your weekend is as fun as ours!

Edited to add: Thanks to my friend Jane for capturing the fun of the party so well!