Easy purple dress refashion

As a resident of New Hampshire who was also born here, there's one thing about this time of year that really grinds my gears. People that get all self righteous and complain about those who complain about the weather. Like, you come indoors shivering out a phrase like, "Oh my god, it's so cold that my nipples could cut glass!" only to get a lecture from Hard-ass McHardcore New Englander about how the first rule of living in climates with cold weather is to never talk abut the cold weather.
No, I'm not surprised that it's cold, but I reserve the right to say that it kinda sucks when the temps drop so damn low. I need a turtleneck.

I don't know what appealed to me first, but I was super excited to find this dress. It was a nice thick cotton, all comfy and cozy...but I just couldn't do the turtleneck. It was double layered. To quote the late comedian Mitch Hedberg, it's like being strangled by a very weak person.

It was a size medium, and I bought it at Outfitters for $2.00, still with its original tags. I thought it would fit somewhat loosely, but it fit it didn't and I was concerned it wouldn't do my wide hips any favors.

Look at the cute tag that was attached to it!

So, let's cut to the cutting. I carefully tried making the turtleneck less stifling, but it wasn't doing it for me. I seam ripper-ed the whole thing off, and then finally said, "Eff this, I'm making a v neck."
The sleeves bothered me too for some reason. I don't what I have against long sleeves and I had no business hemming them because the purpose of this garment was warmth. I gave each a quick trim and rolled them a bit.
I don't remember why I didn't keep the length, but I took off a few inches. I had more than enough to make this perfect, matching sash:

The end result:

I'm trying my best to look natural with my eyes open and not looking down.

I took these pictures on the day that I actually wore this dress because I was on school vacation and not running out the door in hopes of being on time for work. Yesterday, I set up my camera to capture two other dresses and forgetting that I already had this purple number done, I took a few more shots of it.

Does that picture look weird to you? Most of yesterday's session looks bizarre. I'm short as shit, but I feel like I kinda resemble a little person in this one. I'm going to blame the angle of my tripod. It was different.
Thanks for looking and thank you for ignoring the stupid looking hemline! Because knits are hard!