'80s Vested Romper Refashion

What was it with the ’80s-Early ’90s and weird fake sewn-in layers?

The fake vest on this very ’80s romper doesn’t even go around to the back. It’s just sewn in to the shoulder seams.

Why not just make a matching vest, ’80s? Grownups can handle layering. I promise.

Before we dive into this refashion, I want to take a moment to thank my friend Katie from PannerPete Vintage for gifting me this romper, along with a GIANT bag of other refashionables.

Going to thrift stores right now feels a little scary with the spike in cases we’ve been seeing here in SC. So, in giving me her old vintage inventory/rejects, she’s done me a huge solid that will help keep me safe & healthy this summer (as I won’t have to go thrifting for stuff to refashion as much)!

Now, let’s refashion a romper!

I inspected my new romper closely and discovered a couple of…ahem…issues.

Coffee stain on shoulder of romper — Stain!

pit stains on romper — Ewww! Pit Stains!

Despite all my laundering wizardry, I just could NOT get those stains to budge!

When thrifting for potential refashionables, stains like these are usually a dealbreaker. However, I thought this romper had a lot of potential, so I decided to attempt to work around them.

Wish me luck!

First off, I unpicked the romper’s shoulder seams to remove that vest.

unpicking shoulder seam — I had many layers to get through!

removed vest from romper — Farewell fake vest!

The sleeves quickly followed.

seam ripping sleeves off — Get outta here!

The sleeves were now gone, but keep in mind, those grody pit stains were still very much present on the body of the romper. :/

So, I did the only thing I could think of to remedy the situation, and sliced the armholes open a little to remove the stained parts.

expanding armhole with french curve and rotary cutter — Slllllice!

To do this, I used my french curve & rotary cutter on my self-healing cutting mat. If you don’t have these things, you could just eyeball it using scissors while trying to keep to a curve.

This action will have repercussions, friends. My armholes are going to be pretty big, and since this piece fits me just fine, I won’t be able to take it in on the sides to make the armholes smaller.

I figured I could just wear a camisole under the finished piece, and that it would still look okay even with the larger armholes.

That shoulder stain tho…

But what to do about that pesky shoulder stain?!?

I had a few options here. I could just make the romper strapless or one-shouldered (thus removing the shoulder and stain altogether). I could add a collar fashioned from the original vest collar (and almost did).

OR I could add some cute little epaulette-ish things to the shoulders to cover the stain. <—What I did

To do this, I harvested the bottom corners from the original vest.

First, I measured each corner to make sure they were even, and marked them with tailor’s chalk.

Marking measured corner with tailor's chalk — Measuring triangle to width of shoulder seam

Then, I cut!

cutting bottom points from vest — See? That vest is actually coming in handy!

I laid one of the triangles on the shoulder seam, positioning it to cover the stain. I ended up having to trim them both down a little to get it juuuust right.

I pinned them in place, and stitched them to the front side of the romper.

stitching triangle to shoulder — I think it looks cute already!

Now to put those shoulders back together!

I turned my romper inside-out and pinned my newly-triangled front piece to the back piece.

That added triangle piece made for a really thick seam!

pinned shoulder seams — Whoa! That’s a lot of fabric!

I sewed my shoulders down sllllowwwwwly and carrrrrrrefullllllly to avoid breaking a needle.

sewing shoulder seams on sewing machine — Be careful!

And now that stain is hidden away!

But I’m not done here yet!

Remember those adorable buttons from the front of the vest?

close up of flower buttons — Aren’t they sweet?

I added them to my epaulette-ish things (don’t worry, I put the other two in my button stash)!

hand stitching button to shoulder — Just a lil hand stitchin’!

I stitched the button through the entire shoulder to tack down the triangle and keep that stain from ever being seen again!

stitched flower button — So simple, but so cute!

Now that my shoulders were reassembled, I was ready to close up the raw edges on those armholes.

First, I pinned the raw edges under.

Then, I stitched them down.

When that was done, I tacked the bottom of each armhole down a smidge.

taking in armhole — Any little bit helps!

Now for the legs!

I tried my romper on again, and used a safety pin to mark where I wanted to cut the legs to make to them shorter (adding a couple of inches for the hem).

shortening legs of romper — We’re nearly done here folks!

Then, I gave them each a new hem!

Sash time!

I trimmed off the side ties from the original vest and stitched them together to make a sash in a flash!

I was ready to romp in my new refashion!

'80s Vested Romper Refashion after — Romp…or just stand there…what’s the difference?

When Mr. Refashionista saw me in my romper, he said I looked like I was about to go watch a tennis game “but on a grass court”.

'80s Vested Romper Refashion after closeup — Yes, it’s as cool and comfy as it looks!

While the armholes were larger than I would have liked, I think they still work with the overall look of this piece. Plus, they’re built-in air conditioning!