Back To School with Maggie Mae!

I’ve spent a lot of time the past few months working on school clothes for my first child in kindergarten.  I was not ready for my BAAAAAABY to be in kindergarten AT ALL.  Not ready to not have her all day.  Not ready for her to be more independent.  Not ready for parent homework.  With all the things I wasn’t ready for, I was determined to be ready for one thing: that child of mine was going to look fabulous.  I combed  all of my patterns looking for ones with sleeves (there’s a 3” strap rule which is basically sleeves on a 5 year old) and got to work.  One of my go-to patterns for a successful sew is the Maggie Mae by Shwin.  I made two for school and I love them both!

The first I made was a tunic length.  There’s also a “no leggings as pants rule”, so I had to make sure it looked good with jeans.   Seriously...these rules.  SO MANY RULES.  I had a rule of my own- I had to use my stash.  We do not have any disposable income right now, so stash busters were a MUST.  I had some of this leftover Cherry Print that I’ve used for a bunch of stuff and I found an old dress I hated and used the grey skirt for the yoke.   BAM!  One top down and my awesome factor is UP!

I decided to make a dress version as well.  Kids grow up and need to be “cool” so quickly.  I’m DEFINITELY not ready for that, so I’m keeping her young as long as she lets me.  I was given this AWESOME gnome fabric that I’ve been obsessing over for a year and I knew I needed it for something.  I paired it with a sparkle denim and YEP!  This one’s for all my Gnomies. This dress started out as a different pattern, but my daughter complained that the bodice was “too itchy”.  Whiner.  (But it totally was itchy).  I decided to go back to Maggie Mae and it was better.  Muuuuch better.  The only thing I changed , really, was the skirt.  I made a wider skirt and gathered it, rather than using the slimmer and pleated version that comes with the pattern.  I also made  a white sash and a denim flower for that Papow!  My girl even wore it to picture day!  Maggie Mae saves the day!  But I’m, at the very least, her sidekick.  But like a sexy sidekick that everyone likes and invites to parties because no one wants to be Robin...

Anyway, I hope you like two of my school looks.  There have been a lot more and you’ll get to see at least 2 of them next week...ALLSPICE WEEK.  WOO HOO!!!

-Crystal-