80's Lady to Modern Mama

Photo courtesy of Flickr.

Happy snow days to those of you experiencing winter wonderlands.  I'm sure some of you might think I'm crazy, but I would love to be walking down a snowy street, hand-in-hand with my sweetheart.  Hawaii is gorgeous, but I always long for a little snow about this time of year.  I guess the grass is always greener...

Anyway, I have a great blouse refashion to share with you today.

I snagged this beautifully colored crepe blouse at a garage sale for $0.50.  Even though it screamed 80's Lady, I knew it had real potential.

Holy shoulder pads!  These are about the biggest I've seen.  I got rid of them right away and then went to work with my seam ripper.  I removed the collar, sleeves, and sleeve bands.  I then seam ripped the shoulders apart.

80's Top to Floral Peplum Refashion

When I first saw this shirt at a garage sale for a dollar I was immediately brought back to the 80's - mall bangs, french rolled jeans, jellies. 

I admit this top isn't all that bad.  Minus the shoulder pads, it's actually kind of cute.  But...  I had other plans for it.  Because the bottom was already gathered, I could see that it would be an easy sleeveless peplum top refashion.  I began by getting rid of those outdated shoulder pads.  I'm starting to get quite a collection, and I need to think of a way to reuse the.  Any ideas?

Once I freed the shirt of its pads, I cut the sleeve off of one side. In order to make both sides even, I folded the top in half and used this sleeve to cut the sleeve on the opposite side. 

And I ended up with mostly even cuts on both sides.

I wasn't too keen on the buttons down the front, so I put the top backwards on my dress form.

 

As for the collar, I just eyed it and cut a curved neckline. Next, I sized and pinned up the sides for a nice snug fit.  I noticed some bulge around the breast area so I pinned in some darts on each side.

 After the sides and darts were stitched up, I stitched a hem for the collar and sleeves.  In less than an hour I had a cute and stylish floral peplum top. It was a perfect top for a Friday sunset on the beach.

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