New crafty friend = finished project!

So I've been sewing a dress for my little girl for about, um, three plus weeks now (ahem, cough cough...). I'm not exactly a prolific crafter. It's very cute, it's not too hard, and she is very excited about it. Why it was taking me so long...who knows?

Last week, my girls were invited to play at a new friend's house. It turns out that mom is a crafty minx, and she had spent the entire afternoon sewing linen bread bags, knocking out prototypes for the "France table" she'd been assigned at her church fete. I shamefully admitted my lack of progress on the dress, which is apparently all I needed to do to make me finish it. That night, it was no excuses, take no prisoners sewing (involving one minor error close to the finish line and a smattering of swearing).


This is the Oliver + S ice cream dress (rather appropriate fabric choice, no?). The pattern is marked for beginners, and it was pretty straightforward. Liesl writes fantastic patterns. I did get hung up when attaching the main dress fabric to the back yoke where it divides for the button. Ultimately, I made a hole which I then hand-sewed shut. No one can see it, so no biggie (though I still don't know how to avoid this on the next dress).

I'm feeling the mojo now! One sewing project done, one knitted baby vest completed (then washed and gifted without photo, sigh), and I optimistically washed and dried three more fabrics that afternoon. Let's see what this mama can do!

Which leads me to the question: what to do with this fabric?


I had intended to cut it up for large cushion covers for child lounging. Then, I spread it out on the floor to cut it this afternoon, and a little naked person jumped on it and proclaimed it a picnic blanket. Given that its current form is a duvet cover for a twin bed, it would be big enough to open out as a blanket, backing it with something plain. It would be awfully fun, but is it too busy? What say you?

Cushion covers?

or

Picnic blanket?