On the fence about this one

This fabric was quite valuable:

Now I should point out the difference between value and cost:  it only cost me $4 for 2 metres, but I valued it quite highly because it is another in my collection from Cape Town.  (I promise that I'll stop talking about this Cape Town stash when I've used it up completely and/or gone back and cleaned out the fabric shops.)  When I was in the shop buying this with a friend of mine, we laughed at how I wouldn't be able to justify doing a muslin before using it because any muslin would cost more! 

I thought I'd use it for my daughter, since one of her first words was "turtle", and as soon as she saw it, she laid claim to it.  However, upon closer examination, I thought it may not be the most appropriate fabric for a little girl.  I'm not sure.....something about those turtle heads looks a bit off.....know what I mean?  

Our weekly challenge was to use an orange fabric.  Sounds easy, but it's not a colour that most people have in their stash, and it's not the most flattering on most skin tones.  I thought I'd give it a go, using Simplicity 2892, view B.

There were a few flaws in this fabric that I had to cut around, so I didn't have quite enough fabric for the poofy sleeves; I just used the sleeve lining pattern piece instead.  I also cut the back on the fold, since that neck opening is so wide that a back slit seemed redundant (and only served to make more work and break up the print).  I also used the selvedge border in the hem and sleeve edges since it was an interesting feature.  Any other changes?.....oh yes, I made a wider and much longer waist tie just because I like it better that way.

This is the best photo I could get before the rain clouds arrived yesterday afternoon.  It was as dark as night and this grainy flash photo is worse than usual.  Well, you get the general idea.  Probably won't be in heavy rotation, but I'll reserve final judgement for a while.