Okay, I know I’m always excited about my giveaways because I only share things with you that I’d be thrilled to win myself!  But this time I’m super-duper-duper excited because not only will the winner end up with something that will surely become a family treasure, but I love the entire idea that I’m able to feature with this giveaway!  Think of all the times your father, your grandfather, or your husband has worn his favorite shirt–after a while, you can just see him in it, right?  But when the time comes for the shirt to be retired (either because it has seen its day, or sadly, because your loved one has passed on), you can give that special shirt new life.

Jessica at little grey line can take your meaningful men’s shirt and transform it for you.  She’s a very talented designer, and she will take the utmost care of your piece as she takes it apart, reuses every bit that she can (including the original buttons), and returns it to you for the sweet girl in your life.

I first discovered Jessica’s talent when a friend of mine got in touch with my mom as I was about to have my fourth daughter.  My friend (her daughter is the one modeling the dress is this post!) arranged to have my mom send down a shirt that had been my dad’s.  She then had Jessica remake the shirt into a dress for my baby girl.  When I opened the gift, it took me a moment to recognize the fabric, but then I could see a tag that Jessica had attached with a picture of the original shirt–I immediately realized it was one of my dad’s old shirts.  Needless to say, I was a puddle in a matter of seconds!  I could not believe I had this little piece of history sitting right in front of me for my newborn daughter–and I couldn’t believe my sweet friend went through the trouble of tracking down a shirt to use for such a thoughtful gift–for a fourth child, no less!  I’m a lucky girl to have such great friends in my life  :)  (And I ALSO couldn’t believe my dad–who always thinks everything is “just fine” for him–actually gave up one of his shirts, even if it was 25 years old!  I later learned that my mom swiped it when he wasn’t looking–ha!  Our family loves to tell the story of when my dad rescued a large pile of his old shirts from my mom’s garage sale and then wore one to work the next day.  He was still sporting the piece of masking tape on his back that said $0.25.  When his co-workers pointed out that he had a piece of tape on his back, they removed it and showed it to him.  He was jokingly appalled:  “Twenty-five cents?!!  This ol’ beauty is worth a LOT more than that!!  Good thing I didn’t let my wife sell all my great apparel–somebody would have gotten a bargain!  This stuff is practically vintage now!!”  He is a one of a kind, that’s for sure… My poor mother…)  :)

Once my parents discovered what Jessica could do, they then contacted her and had another dress made (shocking that my dad parted with another shirt!).  My daughter was able to wear it for her first Christmas–see the pictures below.  I love both her dresses so much, and we will treasure them always–and pass them on to future generations as well.

Find little grey line

If you’d like to contact Jessica, you can find her website here:  little grey line.

You can also find little grey line on Facebook.

View her gallery of dresses here.

* The dress featured in this post is the “Piper” design.  Jessica has 16 styles to choose from, and she is so great to work with–she will most definitely welcome your input to make sure you love your piece!

Pan down to the bottom of this post for details on how to enter this very special giveaway!!!

If you’re the lucky winner and you’re able to supply Jessica with the shirt you’d like to use quickly enough, she said she would try to have your piece ready for you for Father’s Day!  Thanks, Jessica!

How little grey line got started:

How the process works:

Jessica from little grey line will start with the shirt you provide.

She will carefully take it apart and then transform it into a girl’s dress–she even reuses the original buttons.  little grey line has 16 designs to choose from.

How sweet is this?!  (the dress and the little girl!)  :)  She is modeling the “Piper” style made from her great-grandfather’s shirt.  AMAZING!  I love it.

Jessica can make dresses for the really little ones, too!

The below photo shows my daughter (then nine-months-old) wearing a dress on her first Christmas that was made from her grandfather’s shirt.  (She is such a peanut, so I had to roll the sleeves up because the dress didn’t fit her quite right at the time.)  What a special dress for her to wear as she celebrated her first Christmas in this world!  I can still imagine my dad wearing that shirt, and I love that I can see my sweet girl in the same pattern now… I get a little choked up just thinking about it!

She is wearing the dress below as well.  I shared this picture in my Fun Photo Ideas post last winter!  I love this shot not only because I think it’s so beautiful with how she’s mesmerized by the lights, but also because she happens to be wearing such a meaningful dress!  Thanks, Jessica!

Not Just Men’s Shirts!

While Jessica started out by giving men’s shirts new life when little grey line was born, she can also work with other meaningful pieces.  On her home page, she shows you how she recently created a dress for a two-year-old using her great-grandmother’s handmade skirt.  And I was blown away by this idea:  when her friend’s husband was going to be returning from his deployment in Afghanistan, Jessica turned one of his basic dress uniforms into a dress for their daughter.  She was able to wear the dress when she greeted her daddy at his homecoming!  I had to share the story below… it brings tears to my eyes.  What an awesome, awesome idea!!

ENTER THE GIVEAWAY BELOW!

HOW TO ENTER:

There are many ways to enter within the widget below.  Each action counts as an entry.  (On the right where it says “entries earned”, you can see how many entries you’ve used up.)

The only MANDATORY actions are “liking” both little grey line and Harvard Homemaker on Facebook.  (Sorry, non-Facebook-users!!)  :(  You can simply do a quick click inside the widget for both of those items and then you’re done and entered!

Obviously, your odds of winning increase with each entry, however!  I have also provided some other options for you beyond the Facebook “likes”–you can up your odds with each entry!  If you use Pinterest, for example, you’re in luck… you can earn 3 points by simply pinning 5 pins you like from my Pinterest page.  (If you don’t use Pinterest, maybe now is the time to start… I’ve been using it since last summer, and I don’t know how I lived without it before!  So many great ideas!!  I plan on using Pinterest a lot more going forward in my giveaways…)