One Old Favourite - One Happy Girl :)

After checking out Dana's fantastic pattern here for converting an old faithful shirt of Dad's into a funky little girls dress I was inspired to attempt refashioning myself i than went through Dad's hoard of shirts he never wears but can't give away and found a Roger David chambray shirt from many moons ago - I remember this shirt from our dating days :) just perfect for Miss Five-to-be

I thought I would attempt the pattern on the Chambrey shirt as a test, but the pattern is generally used on a pocket-less business shirt and when I attempted to remove one pocket the original prewashed colour showed......so my brain went into over drive and I envisioned a concept, cut quickly and started putting it together.....you could say it evolved as I sewed with inspiration coming every couple of stitches. At first it was going to be an overall style, than I discovered the special design on the back of the shirt and knew I needed to keep that, to tie it all in I reused the cuffs as the shoulder straps with buttons and buttonholes already prepared for me (gotta love that) than it was just a matter of prettying it up, a bit of rickrack to start and a bit of quilting fabric just waiting for this project....

As I sewed late into the night on all the beautification (that was the longest part, the main dress was incredibly simple to put together) I kept trying it on Miss Five-to-be, who struggled with the concept of a half finished dress with pins in it....."I will like it better when it is finished" - I love her honesty :) This morning as I lay in bed I was rewarded by her little voice whispering from the dining room where it hung - "I just love it, It's just what I thought it would be!!!" I love her gratitude :)

So even though it doesn't even begin to look like that pattern I originally started to do - I am so happy with the results and love that I didn't use a pattern at all....all my own creativity!!!