It started last week with us assembling a pile of stuff from various cupboards to go down to the local hospice op-shop. Mat put several shirts out to go, including a nice, though faded, red checked one.
In the back of my mind I've had various 'men's shirts refashioned into little girl's dress' projects that were very popular six months ago or so. Especially this one over at Made. I guess to be honest I've been waiting for Mat to get rid of a couple shirts so I could try it! As soon as I had my grubby mitts on the shirt I began to imagine what I'd like it to look like. The Made one is cute and I've snaffled another shirt that would look nice in that style, but the red called for something else. The first image that popped into my mind is the cute Oliver + S Jump Rope dress which I've been debating over for a couple months now! I finally bought it on sale from Pink Panda Fabrics (package coming your way mum!) but in the meantime I need to figure this out on my own and am enjoying the challenge! So anyways, I've got this idea of a shirtdress in my head, maybe with a more gathered skirt to offset the lines and checks a bit. Hazel has a similar dress in a knit fabric so I thought perhaps that would be a good one to copy. However I'm not sure how the switch from a soft knit to a stiffer cotton would work. I decided to have a look through my Japanese pattern books and the couple Ottobre magazines I have to see if there was anything and although there were a few contenders the closest one I could find was from Clothes for Girls (oh how I love this book!) and I've taken the arms and neck but will change the lower part, add in a belt if I've got enough fabric, and give it a gathered skirt. So I've got my adapted pattern, my inspiration and my fabric. I'll let you know how I go!
