Repurposed dress

It is one of my ambitions to have family photos taken every year, but that achievement requires a great deal of effort on my part. One of the challenges is finding matching clothes that don’t cost a fortune! This year, I was able to find everything needed for my boys and my husband, on sale, and from the same store! My problem? I didn’t find anything I could live with for myself. Most maternity shirts I found were expensive, and with less than 2 months left for me to wear it, out of the question! My solution: Make something myself! I found an XXL maxi dress on clearance that seemed to be the right color, and figured, here’s a yard or two of fabric I could make something with! I came up with a style I thought would be classy and uncomplicated without a pattern, and after a half day of figuring, re-figuring and sewing: voila, an $11 maternity shirt! It is admittedly not as fashionable as my last undertaking, but the best I could come up with for the material composition, jersey is not the most refined fabric if you must know! I am also showing the shirt itself which is a bit too boxy for me, I prefer to add the belt and have waist. Unfortunately my illustrations are typically more attractive than the finished project. 
As you can see, the weather here is always gorgeous, and my photographer is unparalleled! 

Designing

With a belt

Plain, sans belt.

The maxi dress I used for fabric