School Photo Dress

Last week was school picture day at Erin's elementary school. She requested that I make her a dress which made my heart skip a beat! I laid out a few patterns for her to choose from and she picked the School Photo Dress by oliver + s.  I was pretty happy she chose that one because the pattern I have only goes up to a size four and she is starting to get too tall to wear a four. After she picked her pattern, I gave her a choice between two fabrics that I thought would work well. She chose this vintage fabric that I found at my parents' house last Christmas. My mom is not sure what she originally bought it for but she did say she had it in another color way that she used to make herself some culottes. My mom used to make herself clothes when she was in her early 20s. I really need to see if she has any of the things she made.

Any who, in true procrastinator fashion, I didn't start sewing the dress until 8 o'clock the night before picture day.  Thankfully the instructions were very easy to follow and I even installed my first invisible zipper! Woohoo! It was not very hard at all and I think I want to put invisible zippers in everything now. I took a few little breaks so I didn't finish up the dress until almost 1 a.m. But it was worth it when I woke up a few hours later and showed Erin the dress. She was so happy with how it came out. So it was worth the late night sewing and the sticking myself with pins multiple times (I really need to invest in a thimble) and burning my fingers on the iron. Late night sewing + Meghan = lots of scars

The Details:
Pattern: oliver + s School Photo Dress size 4 with 31/2 inches added to the length
Fabric: main fabric: vintage yellow floral - circa late 1960's  lining: old off white twin bed sheet
Notions: Coats and Clark invisible zipper purchased at Joann

she insisted on wearing these sunglasses - it sorta adds to the retro 60s vibe, no?

 

 

Since it was so late when I finished the dress, I didn't get a chance to try it on Erin before I hemmed it to see if I need the extra length I added. It turns out I could have taken off another inch. Oh well, maybe her growing up and not out trend will continue so the dress will still fit next year just fine ;) Also, please excuse the wrinkled photos - I took these pics after the dress was worn all day and since I was on my fourth cup of coffee by this time and starting to crash, I just didn't feel like having her take it off to iron it...or try to take better pictures. Real life here people...can't be fancy all the time! Ha!

Thanks for stopping by!