At the beginning of March, we started preparing for my little girl’s first School Picture Day at Daycare! We had about 2 weeks to prepare, and I started talking to her about what she might want to wear. I gave her little 3-year old heart the freedom to choose her own outfit for the day, whether she wanted to pick something out at a store or to choose some fabrics from Mama’s shelves. Of course I was thrilled when she chose a Mama-made!
We headed into the sewing room to check out our options. I started to pull down a few things that I thought she might like, and her little eyes LIT UP when I grabbed this one. This was a small cut, maybe ½ yard, of cotton that had been sent to me as a gift when I placed an order with D&H Fabrics a couple of years ago. I thought it was so adorable, but never quite knew what I might use it for. I’m so glad I held onto it, because this little girl came up with some excellent plans. Doggy fabric for the win! I pulled out a couple of options for coordinates, and just like her mama at that age, she set her sights on the hot pink. Decisions were made, and now it was up to me to deliver!
We’ve used this pattern for dresses for her before, so I thankfully got to skip my least favorite step of the process and could jump right in to cutting fabric and sewing. This should’ve been a pretty quick sew, but in the end it took me a solid three hours. After overlocking the edges of the armscye seam where the bodice, sleeve, and ruffle meet, I realized that despite basting my ruffle in place, I’d managed to somehow miss it entirely… And I had to UNPICK THE OVERLOCK STITCHES. No thanks, never again. Trust me when I say if I’d had enough extra fabric, I would’ve taken the lazy and unsustainable approach of starting all over in order to avoid unpicking serger seams.
Picture day was scheduled for a Tuesday, and when I brought this dress downstairs for her to see the Thursday before, she couldn’t wait! We folded it up and set it aside, ready to be worn next week. She would come to my room from time to time to check in on her Doggy Dress, and talked constantly about wearing it for picture day. We found a very cute coordinating outfit in brother’s closet, and she was ready to pose not only for her individual pictures, but also for sibling pictures. My mama heart takes a lot of pleasure in these small things!
Well, picture Day rolled around… And my sweet girl had a fever that just wouldn’t quit. Instead of wearing her sweet little dress, she wore a comfy t-shirt and lounged around the house with mama all day. She was bummed, and the dress ended up just kind of sitting in the same place for the next couple weeks. We’d talked it up as her special picture day dress, so none of the regular days following that seemed like the right time to wear it, I guess.
Until last weekend! The weather was beautiful, all four of us were healthy (this is actually a HUGE win in our house anymore), and we had a fun day of activities ahead – her first Easter Egg Hunt and an afternoon at our downtown Arts Festival! She paired her dress with a big smile and some bike shorts, and we were off! This dress has proven itself to be up for fun, snacks, and all manner of summery good times!
I couldn’t be happier with how cute this little dress turned out on her. This is a really simple sew – the bodice is fully lined, and the dress requires no closures! From time to time, the ruffles on her sleeves decide to stand up straight instead of flutter out, which her dad calls her villain sleeves, so I will probably try to play around with this next time… But overall, I’m so happy with this little dress, and the fact that we’re finally going to get some wear out of it. Let’s hope next Picture Day goes a little more smoothly 🙂
Dress: handmade by me
Pattern: Simple Life Pattern Co. – Adelyn’s Scoop Back Dress
Fabric: Knit Pop – Hot Pink DBP // Celebrating Dogs Cotton – Gifted from D&H Fabrics
Key Ingredients:
Brother XR9500PRW Sewing Machine
Brother 1034D Overlocker
Dahle 36×48 Self-healing Cutting Mat
Prym Sewing Machine Needles
Gutermann Sew All Polyester Sewing Thread
Thanks for reading my thoughts on this pattern! The woven fabric used for this post was kindly gifted to me from D&H Fabrics, with no expectation to use or post. The knit fabric and pattern were purchased by me. All words and opinions expressed throughout this post are my own, as always. Links provided throughout this post may be affiliate links – if you choose to purchase any products through these links, I may receive a small commission, at no cost to you. This simply helps me justify the costs of my sewing habit and the time it takes to share it with you!! Happy Sewing!
- XX Elizabeth
