Louis’ school held a fundraiser last night and the theme was “When I Grow Up: Celebrate Dreams”, where the attendees were encouraged to dress up.  Naturally, I settled on dressing as a redheaded lady who likes to wear themed outfits and go over the top with everything she does.  Seems fitting, doesn’t it?

Ms. Frizzle is AMAZING.  She’s a little wacky, super encouraging, and what every child probably wishes they had as a teacher growing up.  I know I would have loved to hop in that bus and go on an adventure in learning with her…..I still would.

I had a lot of fun putting this dress together, and it really didn’t take many liberties with the pattern I used to achieve the look.  At first, I’d considered drafting a more traditional collar, but then realized that the Peter Pan collar on the Patterns for Pirates Rainbow Dress would do the trick!  Easy peasy.  All I needed up top was a faux button placket and I was ready to embellish!

Since Bennett was going as an astronaut, it felt fitting to go the route of Frizz’s iconic space themed getup.  I decided pretty early on that I had no interest in hand making a bunch of felt appliques.  Instead, I ordered this children’s felt + flannel play set off of Amazon and sewed the felt figures onto my skirt and bodice.  Easy peasy…and the little planets and rockets were super cute.  I was very pleased with my cheater ways!

Did I sew the appliques on neatly?  Well….let’s just say that I had a zero level excitement of adding 40 decals to my dress.  So “neat” isn’t how I would describe my sewing in this instance.  More like “creative” or “just get the f-ing job done and over with okay”.

We set up a photobooth with a greenscreen backdrop for the event (as part of my volunteering ways) and obviously the two of us had to test drive it before the other guests arrived.  By no means did Ms. Frizzle need a partner in life…but if she did end up with someone, I’m guessing they’d be similar in awesomeness to this cute 1st grade teacher husband of mine.

I wish I’d thought to make myself a school bus bag to carry around for the evening.  Or had a lizard on my shoulder…but I didn’t think that far ahead in my making.  So if I ever pull this dress out to wear again (which I totally could for a future Halloween / dress-up moment!) I’ll be sure to add those little details to really take it one step further.

But until then, I’m going to remain pretty smitten over my creation.  I think I did Ms. Frizzle proud!  Don’t you?

Pattern: Rainbow Dress by Patterns for Pirates
Fabric: Navy Ponte (JoAnn Fabrics)
Applique: Solar System Felt Board (Amazon)

I also made a fun Reel of my sewing process!  Go check it out on Insta: