First-Day Dress

The good news about not sewing all summer is that my sewing room has stayed spotless!
Mmmm.
I've loved walking in there and breathing that fresh, clean, organized scent.
The bad news, however, is that I've missed it.

And it only takes one project to remind you how fulfilling it is to take a 2-dimensional piece of fabric and create it into something wearable, and cute!

News flash: sewing is amazing.
Okay maybe that was more of a reminder.  But it's good to have those...like the previous post....you know, being away from your kids for a weekend (or your machine for the summer) so that you're extra happy to reunite?

Well with a new school year coming up I did what I do every year:  freak out that I waited till the last minute to sew a new outfit and started rummaging through fabric.  I showed Lucy a few fabric options, she picked her favorite, and sewed it up:

My dainty little 2nd grader. 

The pattern is a spin on the KITE dress I've been working on for a while now.  And when I say spin, it really spins!  I used the bodice from the kite dress pattern and added an almost circle skirt to the bottom (creating it from 2 "semi" circles)

Lucy totally loved it.
I wanna spin like that!

Some of the added details....
The dress has a full lining (because honestly, that's the easiest way to sew a dress, rather than creating facings and heming sleeves, etc.  And it looks pretty)

I popped a MADE tag in the side.

Lucy picked a yellow button for the back closure (which was my pick too!  I love it when we're on the same design page.  It's funny how often that happens)

And I went back and forth on the hem...should I attach the lining to the dress hem, keep them separate?  Make the lining hem longer so it shows?  So many options.  I decided to keep them separate which seems to make the skirt a bit fuller (and twirlier?)

And if I pull the dress inside out, you can see how fun it would be to leave the lining a bit longer than the dress so it pokes out a bit.  Maybe on the next dress.

We pulled it all together with a few accessories,

...and some hidden accessories for those kind of moments (yay KID Shorts!)

And just like that, my baby is ready for another year of learning and excitement.
Do you ever drop your kids off at school and wish you could be them?
Being a kid is the life.