Big Fat Sewing Fail!

Lola's got a really cute little a-line dress/tunic, that I love. It's slightly padded, so it's nice and warm and cuddly, it fastens at the shoulders with poppers, so it's really easy to get on and off and it's reversible! Once she's spilled something down one side, I can just flip it over to the new, clean side. Genius. And one less item of spare clothing to lug around!

I've been eyeing this dress up ever since I bought it (before Christmas) thinking that it looks quite simple and surely I can replicate it. So today, I decided to have a go. I did a bit of googling and found this tutorial, which looked like pretty much what I wanted.

Ultimately, I think it would be super-cute to make one of these for each of the girls, in camping related fabrics. Evie just loves it when she and Lola are dressed the same. She asks for it most mornings. She's also crazy about our caravan and anything related, so I know she would be over the moon with this idea. It's also the kind of dress that would be so practical for when we are away. It could be worn on it's own in warm weather, with tights when it's a bit cooler and with leggings and a long sleeved top underneath when it's really chilly.

Here are some of the fabrics I've got my sights on for the matching dresses. All currently available at Fabric Rehab.

I know. The campers are in there twice, but they are just too cute and I can't decide which colour I like best.

First though, I thought I'd have a little go with fabric from my stash. I've had the lovely 'Backyard Baby' fabric from Michael Miller for a while - I can't remember where I got it from, but I've been waiting for the right project that would show off the lovely design. This dress, with no pleats or ruffles to distort the design, was perfect.

For the reverse side, after much deliberation over some cute robins fabric, that may or may not be too Christmassy (what do you think?) I decided to repurpose some old pyjamas - pink roses on a background of tiny black hearts - cute.

Too Christmassy? What do you think?

Oh at this point, I was really excited. Look how cute it's going to be! And I'm quite pleased with myself for centering the pattern nicely on each fabric.

And then this happened:

Talk about cross with myself! I was so busy lining up the pattern and making sure it was all centred down the middle, that I didn't notice it was upside down!!

Of course, I was just about squeezing the dress out of half a metre of fabric, so there's not enough left to re-cut. I really love the fabric and how it looks on this dress. I don't really want to buy more fabric for this project, but I don't want to waste what I've already cut either. Dilemma. Right now, I'm far too cross with myself every time I look at it, to be able to think clearly and come up with a plan. I need to do something with this soon though, else it will sit in the 'Works In Progress' pile forever.

What would you do?

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