mary makes merry: One of those before-and-after posts

I was really taken with this whole idea, but at the moment Clark has a dearth of ready-to-move-on shirts. My first-ever (but not my last-ever) trip to the Brown Elephant Resale Shop yielded (in addition to an Ann Taylor Loft suit in my size with jacket, suit and slacks for $12) this:
They charge $5 for these shirts, which is a bit pricey, but they really edit their donations (or only receive fantastic stuff, which seems unlikely), and everything is dry-cleaned or at least laundered and pressed. Anyway, I was all ready to make the kind of dress in the tutorial, but at the Art Institute on one of the aforementioned recent trips, I saw a little girl in just a simple dress with buttons up the back. Aha, said I.

I cobbled together two of Ellie's dress patterns and made this dress, complete with facings made from the sleeves. Other than the collar, the pocket, and a bit of the hem, I didn't have much of the shirt left over, but we're all really pleased with the result.

It has since been hemmed, incidentally.

That day actually was a two-day dress for me -- I made a muslin in the morning and the dress in the evening. Nothing like having the buttons and buttonholes already done for speeding things along! Ah, summer, how I love you.