Refashion: from t-shirt to dress

Annika is quite picky about her clothes (already!).  She always wants to be "fancy", and that usually means wearing a dress.  Sometimes I'll try to get her to wear a shirt and a skirt (which I would think would also be fancy), but that's just not as good as a dress.  I'm not sure if it's the comfort of a dress, or the style, or what, but a dress is her preferred wardrobe option.  So, that leaves quite a few things in her closet that often get neglected.  One of them is this t-shirt. 

We got it second-hand from a friend, and it's so cute and soft and comfy, but for whatever reason it's never been a favorite of Annika's.  So I decided to experiment with it a little.  I didn't tell Annika what I was planning to do, in case it didn't turn out properly, and I didn't cut the shirt at all, in case that she decided that she hated the finished product and wanted the shirt back to normal.

Here's my inspiration -

You can find the tutorial at "make it and love it" - it's pretty easy (although I did make a few mistakes and had to spend some quality time with my seam ripper. :P).  It's a great idea for making those cute onesies last a little bit longer, or (in my case) giving new life to a t-shirt.

Here's my finished dress -

I used some leftover fabric for the skirt, and I didn't have quite as much as I needed, so it's not as gathered and full as it could be, but I think it turned out pretty well.  It was my first time sewing gathers, so that was a new experience.  Now for the million dollar question -- would Annika like it???

I finished it this morning while the kids were at my mother-in-law's and I brought it along with me when I went to pick them up at lunch time.  Annika LOVED it!!!  She immediately wanted to wear it. 

I think it looks really cute on her (other than the fact that skirt fabric is still a bit stiff - it needs some playing and washing to soften it up!), and I think that it will get lots of wear this summer.  I may even see if there are some other t-shirts in her closet that I can transform!