First grade!
Lila’s first day of school came and went almost two weeks ago. But the day after Labor Day will always be the real first day in my book, so I’ll commemorate it by sharing her first day dress today. The Oliver + S Jump Rope dress has become our tradition for the first day of school – she wore it the day she started both preschool and Kindergarten, so I figured we might as well just keep on going.
The truth is, her Jump Rope dresses tend do a whole lot of hanging around in the closet and not much else. She didn’t wear last year’s more than five or six times, and the one before that, even less. But the other truth is, I don’t care. I love making this dress, and I love seeing her wear it, even if it’s just a handful of times. It’s still worth it. And the pattern only goes up to size 8, which means I may only have two more first days left! I better start searching for a replacement pattern.
This little floral print is Kimberly Kight’s Clothesline in Periwinkle from Cotton + Steel, which I ordered from Llama Fabrics. It’s been on my radar since Cherie used it here, and while I’m not a purple person, there’s something about this combination of colors that I really like.
My love for this pattern was officially declared here, and if you have any doubts about making this dress (I had many before making it the first time!), there’s a decent little pep talk in that post that I hope might convince you to forge ahead. I must say, sewing it this time was the best yet – the pattern is so well constructed that you can undoubtedly make a beautiful dress the first time around, but it sure does come together like butter the sixth time.
Happy official first day of school!
probablyactually.wordpress.com 
absolutely beautiful work..the fabric you have chosen is so pretty, I also have this pattern, seeing your has made me want to make another, now choosing which granddaughter to sew it for is the next problem….! You can see my version in this post , I much prefer your version!
https://picperfic.wordpress.com/2010/05/28/getting-up-to-speed/
Gail, i love to see your sewing. it’s always so nice. perhaps this pattern can be replaced with the Roller Skate dress. its my go-to for the first day of school, probably because it can satisfy my non-fancy tween, but most likely because I can whip it up the night before school starts!
Oh my goodness…every year I see your jump rope dresses and think that they are simply perfection and think I need to make one for V….and then I don’t 😦 And now, sadly its too late and she is too big. Lovely, as usual, dress and Lila is getting to be so big and grown up, guess that’s what happens with first graders! 😉 hope school is going well! 🙂
I love this pattern too. But I know clover would probably never wear it, and violet almost never wears dresses. Boo.
This dress you made makes me want to be a little gilr so I can wear it! Gosh is it ever perfect ❤
My most favourite dress pattern and she looks divine, well done
I love your jumprope dress tradition! I should buy this pattern in the bigger size just to make this version once. It’s just so lovely. We finally had the first day of kindergarten here and even though it was over a week later than scheduled (due to contact negations) I still couldn’t get my act together to make a first day dress. Maybe I’ll make a last day dress instead 🙂
It looks gorgeous. Well done and thanks for the pep talk. I was looking for a pattern to start and this pattern had been sitting in my shelf for the longest time.
Gail, I somehow missed this post. The dress is lovely! You know, I can 100% relate to you on sometimes not caring if the dress gets worn. I feel the same way. For me it’s about making something that I really, really love. And what gets worn and what does not is left in the hands of the powers that be. 🙂
Thanks for checking in with Lila about the Mini Southport dress. I made mine and LOVE it. Thanks for the inspiration!
Just beautiful. I am not usually a purple person either but I know what you mean about this particular fabric.