Too much of a good thing...

In a previous post I wrote that a nice piece of my Michael Miller wee wonder fabric remained. I had been planning a true Louisa dress for our middle daughter for long, and I thought this border print would be perfect for such a dress. I was wrong, or at least I am far from satisfied with the creation I made, I added too much details.

I had not thought my plans through when I started to cut (big mistake). I cut the pocket piece and the front and thought that I would cut a back from a contrasting uni fabric (because I did not have enough to make a back from the same fabric. When I put the pocket on the front part I realized that print on print was not the way to go (of course it wasn't, what was I thinking...). It was already late in the evening and decided to sleep on it and hope I would come up with something the next day.

The next day I decided that the front piece would become the back piece. There were two problems with this "solution". The back piece should have a higher neckline and should have a seam allowance in the middle. I decided to "fix" this by sewing a piece of fabric on the neckline and cover this with a collar. The zipper would become an exposed zipper on the front. To give the whole thing an intended look I would put the zipper on an zipper placket. The collar and front placket pattern pieces are again from the earlier mentioned Stof voor doe het zelvers 2 book.The short sleeves and extra shoulder detail were inspired by the same book.

The contrasting uni color fabric I used is from a bed cover we once bought at Ikea. The color matches the grass from the wee wonder remarkably well.The pipping details were made from the last home made pipping I had laying around.

The dress would have been better without the collar and front placket, the dress has too much detail now. Even with the collar, it would have been better if I would have adapted the pattern of the collar to really cover the whole upper back, so without the mistake-showing-whole that remains now.

My daughter likes the dress and the fact she can open the zipper herself, so it will probably get some wear in day care. Lets hope our youngest will have longer hair when she will fit in the dress, so it covers the mistake at the back. It is not a great way to end my sewing year, but the silver lining is that it will be an easy project to beat. At least I managed to use almost all the fabric, this was what remained from the two yard.

Feel free to leave a comment in the language you prefer (although Google translate might have to assist me if you choose something different than English, German, Dutch or Hungarian).