I'm sure if I shopped long enough and spent enough money I'd be able to find an adorable black dress for Penelope, but I just didn't want to! My sister's colors were baby blue and black and she wanted all of the bridesmaids and girls to wear black dresses. I was originally planning on dressing her up in her charcoal and white striped dress from Easter, but that wouldn't be nearly as much fun as wearing something new or new-ish.

Christopher, who is all too often my muse, had dressed Penelope in one of my shirts (pictured above) about a week or two before the wedding.  While the shirt nearly ate Penelope, I got thinking that hacking it up wouldn't be that hard to do. After all, it would just be a snip here and a seam there, right? Iused one of Penelope's little polo dresses to serve as my guide and I just cut away! I discarded the middle section, but reused the sleeves, collar and bottom of the shirt. All I really had to do was re-attach the sleeves, gather the bottom part, stitch and top-stitch it all. My first attempt at attaching the skirt was really messy and as a result I spent a good hour fixing my mistake, but besides that the dress was a snap to construct.

While this dress wasn't nearly as formal/wedding appropriate as Nathan's nieces dresses were (they were wearing the most adorable shiny poufy dresses!), it was perfect for her. She's a messy little girl, so I didn't have to worry about stains or spills. Best of all, this shirt has had more use in the last 2 weeks than it had in the last year.