My Birthday Dress With Simplicity 8414

I'm so excited to share my "me made" dress today, which is this Cynthia Rowley pleated dress Simplicity 8414!  This is a popular pattern that I saw all over Instagram in various peoples pattern hauls as soon it was released.  I decided to pick it up too on a pattern sale.  The details looked intricate and I couldn't really wrap my head around what was involved.  But I decided to go for it because I loved the shape and style of this dress. 

 
I made this dress especially for my birthday in December and spent most of the that month working on it.  Luckily I had a sewing friend guide me through the pleats and after I had done a few with guidance, I was on my way.  Here are some details about my dress: I used View C (I did not add the rick rack) and cut out size Small.  The fabric is a rayon challis in mauve from a fabric shop I found on Etsy.  I had been looking around for this particular color for a while so I was excited when I found it.  The gold buttons are from Joann's and I purchased four different styles and shapes so I could mixe them all up to decorate the placket.  Here are more of my thoughts on this pattern and putting together my special dress:

Pattern Review for Simplicity 8414

Difficulty: Overall this was not a difficult pattern.  It was mainly time consuming to mark and sew all of the pleats.  On one side of the front bodice I miss marked the pleat lines and had to start some over again. A tip that I will share is that I marked and sewed the back pleats and sleeve pleats therefore I got to practice doing that before working on the front. 

Alterations: I made no alterations to this pattern.

Recommend?: Yes I would recommend this pattern for anyone that would like to practice sewing pleats, and also wanting a pretty shift dress in their closet. I'm not sure I would sew this again for myself, just one of these in my closet is fine. ;)

I really love how how this dress turned out!  I feel like I can wear for many occasions like weddings, parties, or a special night out.  My husband and I celebrated my birthday by going to dinner at a super yummy Japanese restaurant here in Austin.  There's nothing like being able to make your own outfit for a fun night out celebrating!