
Recently my sweet babies went back to school.
My son is in first grade and my daughter is in her LAST year of preschool.
Let’s all stop and shed a tear for that.
(wahhh)
How do you handle your BABY growing up?
I channeled my despair (well, not really despair, but you have to admit it’s bittersweet) into making her the perfect first day of school outfit.
Originally, she wanted a Doc McStuffins dress, but I was having a heck of a time finding a store that had the fabric in stock (because don’t you all wait until a day or two before a big event to sew a full outfit? You don’t? Oh….). In fact, I’m not sure if it even exists.
Why Doc McStuffins? Well, we recently bought her new underwear. Doc McStuffins. New shoes. Also Doc McStuffins. She was going for a certain theme you know?
Leave it to mommy to mess things up ๐
Anyway, I went with school themed fabric instead and she was just as happy.
I knew I wanted the outfit to be BRIGHT! and COLORFUL! and FUN!
This outfit fulfills ALL of those descriptions.
I also didn’t want to learn a new pattern or wing it.
I went with my old standbys.
A Ruffled Shirt (a variation on the Ruffled Tier Dress tutorial here. Just with less tiers.) and Straight Leg Pants (tutorial here, although I did add ruffles.).

Simple and I was done in probably under 2 hours (not counting time spent washing/drying fabric of course).
During this process, my serger shut down. I don’t know what is wrong with it. Looks like it might need to make a trip to the repair doctor ๐ . This is the first outfit I’ve made without a serger in over 2 years. I used an overlock stitch to secure the edges but goodness, I am spoiled by how my serger zips through fabric (and most importantly…CUTS through fabric).
I hope I don’t wind up needing a new one. I love my serger ๐
This outfit would have taken at LEAST a half hour less with my serger.
I am pretty proud of this outfit though. The ruffles are as uniform as I’ve ever gotten ruffles by hand and my daughter didn’t complain about any part of it being uncomfortable or “too” anything (she’s VERY picky about tags, fabric and um…everything nowadays).
Be sure to check out the following tutorials to learn how to make this outfit yourself!
Did your kiddos go back to school yet? What grades are your kids in? Did you weep like a baby or kick them out the door with glee ๐ ?
I waited until the last minute to throw
Together a dress, hair bow, and necklace. Like the day before. I love your daughter’s outfit! Great job!
We wanted Doc McStuffins too but couldn’t find fabric. I ended up buying a Doc tshirts and I am going to turn it into a dress this weekend.
That’s a great idea. I might need to do that soon. Where did you find the shirt?
I am in love with this outfit!!.. Where did you get the fabric from?