Maternity Dress to Shirt

I bought this plain, boring, kinda ugly gray dress from a thrift store for $6 (new with tags!) with the intent on altering it to make it a cute shirt.  I liked the color, and I loved the sleeves.  First of all, I cut off the bottom foot to make it a nice maternity length (one that will not become too short as my belly grows).  The picture below shows a close up of the bottom seam I did.  I hemmed it 2 inches with a double row of stitching to match the stitching on the sleeves.  And can you see the ugly ties in the first picture, they were very similar to show laces!  I used part of the bottom dress fabric to make new ties.  I ripped open the seam where the ties were (about an inch), took out old ones, replaced them with the new ones, then just sewed it closed.  The end result is still plain and maybe boring, but at least it's not ugly anymore.  I think it will look great with a black skirt and a black flower pin on the shirt, perfect for wearing to church. 

Front view:

Back view, notice the new ties: