Simple Refashion: Jean Jacket

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Last week I had fabulous luck at the thrift store. I found a bunch of things, among them: a Tommy Hilfiger 2T denim shirt dress. Thankfully, Penelope was there with me, so I could confirm that the shirt dress did in fact fit her. It fit her more like a shirt/jacket than a dress. The only downside to the $2 score? The embroidery along the bottom of the dress. I subscribe to the philosophy that clothing shouldn’t have labels (like #1 slugger, princess, etc); in fact, I feel like many perfectly adorable clothes are ruined by kitschy embroidery and cartoons.

These stars aren’t Penelope’s style at all (I totally project all of my interests & snobbery onto her).

The linen table cloth that I bought recently from DownEast home had a brown P embroidered on it that I successfully unpicked without any damage to the linen. I figured since this embroidery was smaller and on a thicker material, removing the stitching wouldn’t be a problem at all. I was right.

Removing the cheesy stars makes all the difference in the world to me. I do this a lot to hand me downs & thrifted items. It’s the perfect way to give something new life & style. Doing this is practically brainless – I just grab my seam ripper, an embroidery hoop, my computer & cuddle on the bed with Felix while I catch up on shows.

The little stars were the most time consuming because the stitching was so tight, so I ended up getting my tweezers to help get those out of the way. No big deal, though. I love the final result & this outfit is just so adorable. She’s such a little hipster with her little man dress shoes, cut off jean shorts & jean jacket.

I didn’t think it was terribly necessary to remove the Tommy Hilfiger embroidery on the pocket – that’s pretty subtle. Click here for more adorable photos & the breakdown of her outfit.

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    1. I too loathe ridiculous embroidery on kids clothes. And glitter or any other type of bedazzel-ment. I seam rip it off stuff regularly. I definately project all my interests onto my kids. Thats why my 3 year old loves Blythe. I am that mom that says no to the disney princess light up sneakers! Oh and BTW I got a second Jenny lind bed for my girls’ room today. For FREEEEEEEEE!

    2. Sandra says:

      I couldn’t agree with you more – they need to stop making silly embroidery on clothes like that! You did a swell job removing them, and the jacket looks SO much better now! :)

    3. I don’t understand why clothing companies actually pay for the extra string and the extra time for workers to sew on these UNcute little things. Looks so much better without, great idea!

    4. Gretchen says:

      I SO agree – even with adult clothing. I don’t need bird embroidered on my sweatshirt. Just give me the sweatshirt. Good design doesn’t need embellishment.
      I just found your blog and I think it’s great. Love your style!

    5. Lydia says:

      Amen. Snobbery justified.

    6. Amy says:

      Oh my goodness…she’s rocking the chambray shirt trend with more flair than most adults, she looks so cool :D

    7. Katie says:

      This looks ABSOLUTELY adorable! Oh my goodness.

      I agree that a lot of really cute pieces are ruined by ugly/label-flashy business.

    8. Bellesme says:

      SO cute, I think she looks amazing =) I’ve always loved longer jackets, I feel like they look slimmer and more mature, and denim is a nice fun way to do that =)
      Bellesme

    9. Heidi says:

      I’m totally with you about kids clothes. We get so many hand-me-downs (for which I am so thankful!)that have words are pictures sewn or screenprinted on…I’m always trying to think of ways to upcycle them instead of getting rid of them. I always thought you would be able to see the ‘shadow’ after taking something off. I’ll have to give it a try!

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