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.

The top went inside out on my dress form, and I took in the sides a little and straightened the shoulders.  I also trimmed some fabric off the shoulders so that the sleeves would fit.  Normally, I would sew a french seam at all the edges.  However, because I didn't have much fabric to work with, I decided to straight stitch the edges and trim them up using pinking shears.   If only I had a serger....

Once the top was stitched up, I began to work on the sleeves.  I wanted them to be quarter length, so I cut them off at the bottom.

Next, I cut them down the seam.

 

To re-size the sleeves, I did my little trick where I pinned the edge of the sleeves around the armhole and pinned where I would need to cut and sew.  

After measuring the sleeve, I cut a straight line down from the pin marker.

I then hemmed a double hem at the cuff of the sleeves and stitched them down the seams.  Next, I reattached them to the armholes, right sides facing.

To finish off the neckline, I sewed the edges down once and then folded them over again to create a clean edged hem.  I thought the blouse needed a little something, so I decided to add some sleeve straps.  I was followed Carissa's wonderful tutorial over at Carissa Knits. 

Remember the sleeve cuffs that I detached?  I removed the buttons and sewed the edges down.

I attached the buttonless side to the inside of the sleeve, half way up and in the middle.

 

Because the original pinkish buttons looked a little dated, I swapped them out for some pearlish modern looking ones.

When the straps were sewn into place, I hand sewed the pearl buttons to the center of the X.

The completed straps buttoned up nicely.

In just a few hours, this 80's relic was given a new modern life.  I love my new blouse so much that I might just wear it to my Holiday party next weekend.

Here you have it...

Stay warm and cozy!