WEARABLE WEDNESDAY: Green Zebra!

Posted by Ethne~

This puppy equine dress cost me $3.99 at Salvation Army right by my house.  I loved the fabric and pattern, but the dress was horrific!  You could wear an entire spare tire underneath the midsection of the dress.  What sold me on it was there was enough dress to work with, I liked the green, and I really liked the ¾ sleeves.

BEFORE: Wild Kingdom

I knew right away that it would be shirt city since I saw no way to get around the pouchy gathers and the black sweater band.

WTF: Pouchy band for mom tummy (I have it too, I'm not criticizing)
Pleated skirt - who designed this crap?

So first things first – slash out those stupid shoulder pads.

Are giant shoulder pads really necessary to
top off this mess of a dress?

Next to go was that terrible black band and pleated skirt.  Is it just me, but aren’t pleats and green zebra prints just a no-go?  4 sho.  Anyway, I didn’t want to seam-rip all the way around the band, both the zebra and lining fabrics – what a waste of time!  So I just cut the fabric away at the base of the band.  That worked really well, actually.

A good shot of the waistband AND pleats
PS - don't you love the color of my nailpolish?

I started with pinning for a new seam on the black lining fabric.  Since the zebra was gathered to cover a spare tire, there is a lot more of that than the black liner.  It ends up being shorter than the zebra, but that’s ok, I still want a lining in there.

Stitched that up on my Singer Curvy.

See my teacup pincushion in the background? :)
PS - Emily, we hope you are loving yours.

I needed to do a new seam on the zebra and I was a little worried that it would not cooperate with a smooth seam because of the slippery fabric.  But I pinned it carefully and guess what – it is nice and straight!  That is purely my seamstress talent shining through, I’m sure.

I tried the shirt on with some work slacks and at first put a belt on – but the shirt length and bodice cut didn’t work with that.  I wanted to give it a little shape, though, so I riffled through my jewelry box and found this nice rhinestone brooch.  A little fabric cinch-up with my brooch and I’ve got a perfect new work shirt.

AFTER: Hot Thrifty Mama!

Both munchkins had to get in on the action

Unquestionably an improvement.  Thrifty Nana really liked the pattern on me and even gave the ultimate compliment – she said she’d wear it!  I’d say this is one of my best re-styles to date, Friends!