My First Refashion- From Large Shirt To Small Dress

So I recently discovered this awesome blog called Refashionista. I spent a couple weeks reading all the back entries at night after my kid went to sleep. I would stay up till all hours of the night reading because it was so addicting. I love all the before/after pics of the clothes she has refashioned.
I was inspired to pull out my sewing machine and finally put it to use. It had been collecting dust! I have a collection of clothing items to refashion and I decided to start with this Banana Republic 100% silk royal blue shirt in size large.

As you can see its the perfect length for a dress but the long sleeves are a no for me and the sash at the neck is too stuffy for my taste. Its also a little baggy. It buttons all the way down to the center so luckily I was able to take it in on the sides and still get in and out of it.

So thats what I started with- I put it on inside out and put a couple pins in. Luckily my dress form arrives tomorrow! I took it off and finished pinning the sides like this:

I only took in the top half because I wanted the skirt to have plenty of room. Im not a good sewer so you will have to excuse that my seams are a bit messy. I will get better I promise!

Also- ignore that messy playroom floor please. With 4 dogs and a toddler its tough to keep up on cracker crumbs and sand tracked in from the sand box!

Normally I would cut off the extra fabric but since its silk and there isn't much of it I left it. I don't want it to fray.

Next the sash, the sash loops at the neck and the sleeves had to go. CHOP!

I folded the edges of the sleeves in twice so it won't fray and sewed those up.

In the middle of all this I somehow misplaced the sash which will now serve as the belt- so for the after photo I had to substitute a black sash from another dress. But you get the idea!

And thats it! This was a pretty simple refashion. Good thing too since it was my first refashion!