is this thing on?!

Between the new house, trips, lots of visitors, and a generally busy millennial lifestyle, I haven’t had time to sew, let alone blog recently. however when maya specifically requested a back to school dress three weeks ago I knew it was time to change that.

Sammie said maya was into blue and purple as of late so with that in mind. jumped on the car and headed to my favorite fabric store in the Bay Area: stonemountain and daughter to pick up fabric.

since I was a bit rusty I decided to do my all time favorite pattern: the library dress from the great oliver + s.

even though i have made this style half a dozen times, the most recent time was etta’s Dress for my wedding 2.5 years ago so I reread the directions and this wonderful tutorial from the oliver + s blog on how to change the back from buttons to a zipper.

how darling is that flat piping?

when making this pattern in the past i found it easiest to swap out the facing for a full bodice lining, which i did again here.

the third and final modification i made was using hem facing instead of a fold and stitch hem.

since we’re on the topic of back to school, let’s recap some of the creations i’ve made in past years to mark the start of the academic year shall we?

it all began in 2013 when nora started kindergarten and i made her and etta these roller skate dresses: