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DIY Military Style Jacket From Dress Refashion

Tiki Week Dress to Top Refashion
Of Sparkles & 60's House Slippers

This dress makes no sense to me.

refashionista Military Style Jacket From Dress Refashion before
Am I in marching band? Am I a soldier? What am I???

Seriously, what was the idea behind this one? I imagine a very powerful woman with very big hair probably rocked this in the ’80s, but it doesn’t really work for this decade.

Luckily, it didn’t take much to make this piece a fun & functional DIY Military Style Jacket!

First, I snipped out some impressively large shoulder pads.

removed shoulder pads
Don’t worry! You shall be repurposed!

My plan is to repurpose these into a nice sunglasses case, since the fabric is so silky and soft. 🙂

Next, I lopped off a good bit from the bottom.

cutting off bottom of dress
Chop!

A quick hem job followed.

First, I pinned it in place.

pinning hem of military style jacket
Pin it!

Then, I stitched it down.

sewing hem of military style jacket
Then, hem it!

That’s all it took to take this from power dress to powerfully cute jacket!

refashionista Military Style Jacket From Dress Refashion after
Just nonchalantly leaning on a wall. Like ya do.

I styled my new jacket with a very old Blondie T-shirt I bought back in 8th grade (I was obsessed with that band!), dark jeans, and gold flats.

Military Style Jacket From Dress Refashion after
It’s okay. I was in marching band in high school.

My new jacket enjoyed a delicious meal and a couple of cocktails at The War Mouth, a fabulous new restaurant here in Columbia SC.

It features such southern delicacies as mustard-breaded venison and quail with dumplings.

war mouth menu and a cocktail
Mmmmmn!
closeup of refashionista in military style jacket
Don’t mind if I do!

Cheers!

refashionista Military Style Jacket From Dress Refashion before and after
Tiki Week Dress to Top Refashion
Of Sparkles & 60's House Slippers

49 thoughts on “DIY Military Style Jacket From Dress Refashion”

  1. My costuming friend and I found a nearly identical blazer at The Last Rack Goodwill store for $5. I refashioned it into Captain Hook’s coat for a high school Disney show! /Users/Melanie/Desktop/IMG_1892.jpg/Users/Melanie/Desktop/996940_527760507315337_1674012779_n.jpg

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  2. I do like the jacket but I think you are genius to turn the shoulder pad into a glasses case! Never would’ve thought of that! Brilliant!

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  3. I really love how fun you are!! Have been enjoying your blog for years now and this year you’re making a great effort to keep us inspired and entertained. So thanks so much!

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  4. That’s a cute jacket! I tried on something similar (but with many more sequins) once when I was having photos done at Glamour Shots at the mall. I decided it was a little too Michael Jackson-like for my purposes. Though I did look fabulous…

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  5. Very nice
    and I love the shoulder pads, if you want to split the shoulder pads for me, if you have a lot of shoulder pads, then with one accord I would buy it, because I’m happy to collect the shoulder pads.

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  6. Man, if I had found that dress/jacket when I was having my circus party I would have been so excited. I made my own ringleader tailcoat out of another red coat I found that worked out well but this one has such lovely details!

    Here’s a link to a before and after of my coat alteration.

    http://imgur.com/RUgsnzD

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    • So glad you saved the sleeve cuffs. I once added cording like that to a thrifted plain blue blazer at the collar and cuffs, and added gold buttons. My daughters both wore it showing their horses. I don’t think I ever bought them new. Horse show clothing is only in style one or two years. And we know how quickly children grow out of things. Thankfully there is a huge annual consignment sale put on by the local 4-H club. They sell over $100,000 of used equipment and clothing every year!

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  7. Very nice and cool
    and I love the shoulder pads, if you want to split the shoulder pads for me, if you have a lot of shoulder pads, then with one accord I would buy it, because I’m happy to collect the shoulder pads.

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  8. Love what you did with this one…………..yep that dress was not something that anyone would wear today……..well maybe to a Halloween party with big hair and huge earings!

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  9. That very well could have been my dress but I doubt my donations made it from Atlanta to Columbia! That dress would have been paired with matching red pumps and big gold earrings in an equally powerful door knocker style. just sayin’ !! (great redo!)

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  10. You are absolutely right about the big hair, but it was the early 90’s. I had that dress. Wore it on a cruise. ;-)))))
    Love what you did!

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  11. As a working woman of a certain age in the 1980’s, it certainly looks like something I would have worn. Fantastic job! Great imagination!

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  12. Can’t wait to see what you do with the bottom half. I love the idea of repurposing the shoulder pads into eyeglass cases. Wish I had thought of that one!

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  13. Oh man, I wish I had your refashion vision! I had a 1980’s dress just like this, but in navy blue. I gave it away to the Salvation Army. It would have made a fabulous jacket! Sigh.

    Reply

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