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.
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!
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! :)
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!
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!
Amen. Snobbery justified.
Oh my goodness…she’s rocking the chambray shirt trend with more flair than most adults, she looks so cool :D
This looks ABSOLUTELY adorable! Oh my goodness.
I agree that a lot of really cute pieces are ruined by ugly/label-flashy business.
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
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!