This customer profile has 2 revamps! That’s right, Jamie’s got two items, you’ll see why in a sec, so be sure you get to the bottom of this post! The first was her sister’s dress. It had stains on the bottom but both Jamie & her sis agreed, it had some potential with that awesome pattern. We brainstormed a few creative repairs, but all of the options would look like we were trying too hard (you never want a creative repair to look forced!).

Then I brought up replacing the bottom panel with a completely different fabric. Jamie was on board. We happened to have the perfect navy fabric in our small vintage fabric collection, and so the redesign began.

Since the original fabric was knit, I decided to add a little extra across the hips so when she sat down the garment would be comfortable. We also decided to ditch the sleeves. The final detail we needed to deal with was the button situation–those flower buttons had to go!

So Jamie went on a hunt for buttons. She went to Current Boutique (if you haven’t been there yet you should go!) They were super helpful to her and gave her a few buttons they had lying around, and she also found the shirt below for the buttons, in case those worked better. In the spare button pile, we found the perfect combo and also had that 1 contrasting button to make it more fun.

Since we had saved the day with Current Boutique’s stock of extra buttons, Jamie offered us the shirt to incorporate into our designs. But, after a bit of brainstorming with her, we got so excited about the possibilities of the shirt, she decided to revamp it too! Hence revamp #2.

It was simple! Loose the sleeves that put those patches just a little overboard, and hem the bottom cropped in front and long in back. Now it is a perfect crop to layer up just as Jamie did here:

OR you can wear it as a vest over ANYTHING like Jamie here:

We were all giddy about this super simple vest, and to think she only bought it for the buttons!  Good find, miss Jamie!

Do you have any items in the closet that you can’t let go of, or perhaps you’re just curious to see if they have any re-design potential? Give us a call to schedule an appointment at  (202)567-7668 or email us at info@gingerrootdesign.com and we can help brainstorm!

*Tailoring by appointment only, closed Wednesdays and Sundays.