I'm No Cartoon Character: The Most Surprising "Before" that I've Refashioned

I bought this at the shop because of the fun button arrangement and bright color red (I've been told I look good in red, who am I to argue?).

Good bones: pockets and fun buttons!

My husband remarked that I looked like Raggedy Ann.  I am of the opinion he never owned or saw a proper Raggedy Ann doll since I do not see the similarity.  This reminded me more of Olive Oyl, Popeye's fervid love interest.

Any similarity to a cartoon character or doll is not the icing on top of this fashion confection, however.  It is this...

Imagine my surprise!

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this was not in fact a dress, but a romper!  I'm just going to let that sink in for a second.  Somehow, someone thought this dress needed legs to be complete.  Well, I beg to differ.  Let's turn this into the dress it is meant to be!

First I had to remove these sad creatures and return them to their natural habitat (anywhere outside of my clothing).

Woeful looking shoulder pads... Adoption pending...

The next element to go sayonara was the sleeves.  The white trim just added too much silliness to the piece, and they didn't fit flatteringly anyway.

Ripped!  #SeamRipperNotP90XStyle

Some of you may shudder at the loss of limb holes, but I couldn't wait!  Essentially I just ripped the inner seam and crotch right out!

Sounds brutal, but necessary

I sewed straight up each side to complete the skirt and measured how much to take this guy in.  It didn't need much removed, just a little fitting above the waist.  I also decided to remove/fold under the white collar.  I tried it with the collar but without the white trim on the bottom, and the collar-less look was more streamlined.

Trusty mannequin! (anyone else love that 1987 movie?)

Here is the finished product!

Just the right amount of white accent!

Here I am flaunting that I have pockets.  Heck, I can barely find tennis shorts with pockets (where are you supposed to put the tennis balls?), so to find a dress I can wear to work with pockets is quite a coup!

Happy to be going to work in this fun frock!