What do you do when you have a shirt that is too small for you, and a cute little baby girl? Why, make a dress for her, of course! Mom had sent me this lacy top she had found at a thrift store, and it was too small for me, but had a lot of cute detailing. It struck me that it would make a cute dress for Marian, and as I started looking closer, it was the perfect shape for changing into a little empire waist dress for her.
I took the stretchy straps of the shirt off, and started playing with the shirt, seeing how it would be best to cut it into a dress. Soon it became obvious that by overlapping and sewing the two points over the bust of the shirt to make little shoulders for the dress, and by bringing the rest of the lacy part to a point in the back, it made a perfectly shaped little bodice, and all I had to do was create armholes in the sides.
The ribbon bow in front was a little big, so I took it off and retied it and tacked it back on.
I cut out the excess in the back, hemmed what was left, and added a button and ribbon waist tie.
The pin tuck details on the shirt were perfect for the back of the skirt!
The shirt was somewhat sheer, so I also added a sewn in petticoat of white cotton batiste, with extra laces that peeked out from under the dress hem.
When I got all done I tried it on Marian, and she seemed to approve!
She even got to wear it to church the next Sunday!
I really like how it turned out, all the lacy details were so perfect for a Marian! Its like a little Bohemian princess dress!
The back view cracks me up, because of her poofy diaper it almost looks like she has a tiny bustle!
Marian seems to like modeling Mom's creations - hopefully it will stay that way! I'm afraid there will be a lot of that in the years to come!