While I love the feet-friendly convenience of shopping online, there are still times when I end up with items that I never, for the life of me, know how to wear. One good example was this perfectly tailored rust blouse. It looked good online and it looked wonderful when a friend fit it when it arrived by mail. Unfortunately, I could not shake  the feeling that I looked like a teacher off to give a pop quiz when I wore it.  My nerdy glasses and standard messy bun did not help.

vest-before-photos

Another thing that made the blouse not wearable was the back. Sexy, right? I am far from prude but if there is one thing worse than wet feet, it’s an exposed lower back.

Thirty minutes after I took the photos above, I got myself a new vest.

vest-2

vest-1

I added a couple of buttons and used part of the sleeves to make the ribbon. The back remained untouched but its construction makes the vest more interesting, anyway.

vest-3