Ms. Frizzle Finally Snaps

     I've always admired Ms. Frizzle, both for her dedication to education (Dibs on “dedication to education” as the name of my educational rap debut single) and for her fantastic fashion sense. Seriously, the lady knew how to rock a novelty print. Would you look at this fabulous get-up? (By the way, I presume these images belong to Scholastic but I found them through tumblr so it's hard to tell where they came from...regardless, this link to the Scholastic/Magic School Bus website is my very noblest attempt at proper attribution.)

     It's amazing, and I want it in my closet (although since this particular outfit is a jumpsuit, I reserve the right to wear it as jammies). But what I really covet are her dresses. Everyone knows her space dress, right? This one? 

     Of course you know this dress, it's a modern icon. But let me get to my point already: I'm makin' myself a Miss Frizzle dress....sort of. You see, I do love the Frizz's style, but it's a little buttoned up for my taste. I don't have to meet a middle school dress code, thank God. So my dress is going to be Frizz-adjacent...Frizzle-esque? but also completely bonkers because obviously I'm still the one making it. Let's start off with the fabric I've picked.

Dun da da DAAAAAAAAH! 

If you stare at it long enough, the whole thing starts to look like one big evil bird face. So, you know...don't do that.

     So, as previously noted: it's totally bonkers. I know. If you're thinking to yourself "Good God, something ain't right with this child, the light of her soul is clouded with doom and darkness!" then first off, cool it drama queen. Second off, I get that this isn't everyone's cup of tea with the Grim depicted in the leaves at the bottom (bonus Harry Potter reference! +10 Nerd XP!). But I think it's super fun, albeit in a dark, science-experiment sort of way, and the print is close enough together and small enough (it's way smaller than it looks in this ginormous picture I took) that from a distance it will just look like any other pattern. An appropriate metaphor for me, I feel: looks normal from a distance, all messed up and weird upon closer examination. And Miss Frizzle would totally wear this print when discussing animal skeletal systems. And then maybe to the local goth club later that night. She's complicated, people!

     The dress itself is going to have long sleeves and a short a-line skirt. Frizzy dearest's high collars are appropriate and professional and all that, but I prefer not to feel like my clothing is throttling me. The closest pattern I could find to what I want is McCall's 6599, which I'll be picking up as soon as McCall's patterns go on sale somewhere. On a side note, who do they think they're fooling, listing the retail price as $19.95? It's an envelope full of TISSUE PAPER, pattern people. You are grossly overestimating the value of your product. Anyways, the pattern looks like this, and I'll be making form B, but with full length sleeves and no waistband.

I started to do a little Photoshop rendering of what the dress will look like, then realized that's a lot of work and I do this for free, so you get to use your imagination instead.

      I can't wait to get the pattern and start working on this dress so I can indulge my inner Wednesday Addams. I'm also excited to get it done so I can post pictures of it here, because I suspect not everyone will see my vision until it's complete. Would it placate your fears if I reiterated that the print is actually pretty small? As in, even the giraffe skell-er-ton is only 5 inches tall. Oh, that gives me a great idea for how to end this post. 

BAM, today's gonna be a good day for you now.