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Friday, August 10, 2012

The Craft Room: Giving Old Shoulder Pads a New Life

Hello and Happy Friday Darlings, 

Perhaps you remember this post I did a few weeks back when I wore this comfy little floral dress at Skull Creek.  Well, prior to wearing the dress (which has since been sold and shipped off to a new home), I removed the bulky, rockin to the 80s looking shoulder pads because really, who wants to look like a linebacker?  Anyhow, as the floral print on them was way too lovely to just throw out, I decided to give them a new life and create some "pocket art" for my vintage Calvin Klein jeans shorts that I recently scored for a couple dollars at my local thrift.


What You'll Need:
An old pair of jeans shorts 
bleach
old shoulder pads (preferably with a cute print on them)
scissors, a fabric marker, pins, a needle and thread

Step 1:
Ok, if it were a perfect world, I would not have accidentally deleted my before picture of the shorts along with a host of my other photos of this project, but bear with me as I will explain each step the best that I can.  I am the queen of bone-headed technology related moves like that...hehe.  

Start by bleaching the color out of the jean shorts.  I used 10 parts hot water to 1 part bleach and let the shorts marinate in my mixture for about an hour and a half.  After they had reached the color I desired - which was white with a little blue still running through them - I rinsed them in cold water then threw them in the washing machine (alone), with detergent and washed and dried them as I normally would.


Step 2:
Cut around the edge of your shoulder pad.  Remove the foamy middle and you should be left with an egg shaped piece of fabric.  


Step 3:
Place the fabric face down on where you want it to be on the pocket.  With your fabric marker, trace around the edge of that.  I left about a centimeter or two of extra space so I could fold it under to avoid having the rough edge of my fabric appear once it was sewn on.  Pin the fabric to where it will on the pocket and begin stitching around the edge, removing the pins as you go along.  Of course, if you are a pro - you can skip the pins, but I found this made my job a whole lot easier.  Voila!  You are finished and have totally cute-i-fied you denim shorts.

And did I mention, I made a hair bow from the left over material and bottom of the jean shorts which I cut off to make a better length for me.  


There you have it my dears.  Pretty easy peasy lemon squeezy.  I shall do a post styling up my new shorts very soon.  Today I will be back in Philly to catch a baseball game my hubs and a good friend.  How about your weekend?  I shall see you very soon :)

Love Bunches,


36 comments:

  1. This is a great DIY! Those shorts are too cute. I want to try! Thanks for posting :)

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  2. You are so talented Marisa! And where do you sell your stuff? I've been missing out! xo

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  3. What a fabulous idea, Marisa! This is such a great way to recycle all those shoulder pads I keep on throwing away :)

    ♥ laura
    the blog of worldly delights
    the shop of worldly delights

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  4. That was so easy! Love how it turned out, but of course you have such a pretty bit of pattern there :) xx

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  5. this is so creative and thoughtful - but I have never seen shoulder pads with a cute print on them! how did you even find cute shoulder pads? you are amazing like that though. and i love that you made a hair bow too!!

    <3 katherine
    of corgis and cocktails

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  6. Oh my goodness, that is such a great idea, especially for a girl like me that has a pickle jar full of shoulder pads! :)

    xoxo,
    Laura
    http://lauraisthriftingthroughlife.blogspot.com/

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  7. Such a great idea!! Love it :) Ixx

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  8. What an absolutely adorable idea!!! Shoulder pads are so ridiculous on me, so it's great to be able to reuse them :)
    xJennaD

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  9. this is such a lovely idea! i always save the shoulder pads i take off of clothes, though i don't know what i'm going to do with them. maybe one of them will have a cute print like yours so i could try this! :) xx

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  10. This is such a good idea, the shorts look gorgeous! I must try this out the next time I come across some spare fabric!

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  11. This is SO awesome! It looks so cute and what a fun way to brighten up jean shorts AND use something you would've just thrown away. I also love that you explained the bleaching process because I am totally intimidated by that but you make it seem easy :) Great DIY- I totally want to do this!

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  12. Agh I love what you've done with these shorts! Thanks for the inspiration :)

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  13. That is so cute! Might have to do something similar to that to my denim skirt. Thanks for the book recommendations :) Have a great weekend!

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  14. This is so cute, easy and creative. Great diy :)

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  15. This is too damn cute! Must try!

    ox from NYC!
    davie+erica

    LPFashionPhilosophy

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  16. How cute! They turned out so nicely. So great to use up every scrap of a wonderful fabric print.

    Have a good weekend, my friend!
    Loulou

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  17. Ah this is so cool!!! No words

    Great blog: I'm your new follower <3

    Lots of love; Pauline
    www.xpeachie.blogspot.com

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  18. Wow Marisa this looks very nice !!! I LOVE the flower print ! I deffo have to try this too :) Have a fabby weekend ! XX Tani

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  19. Wonderful way to give your clothing a pop of print! It looks great!

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  20. super creative, love it!
    xx




    http://style-squared.blogspot.ca/

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  21. Eeeep, so awesome! Going to have to give this a go xox

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  22. I am in LOVE with this! I totally just cut out some awful shoulder pads from a romper, now I definitely need to try this! Yours turned out so darling-perfect for summer! Thank you so much for your sweet comments too :) I got all excited that you put my picture on pinterest- haha. I need to start an account now!

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  23. OMG, marisa. this is so cute <3 thanks for sharing :)

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  24. such a great idea! ive never thought of an idea like that. its great! and I love the hairbow you made too!!
    xoox
    Mary-Morgan

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    Replies
    1. oh this is really really cute marisa!, now those shorts are really unique and the hairbow is sweet as candy too;)
      hope you had a great weekend darling!
      kiss,mary

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  25. This is such a great idea! I turned a shoulder pad into a change purse, but this is way COOLER. I am totally inspired, you crafty lady.

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  26. What a cool idea, Marisa! ;) I wish I knew how to sew to do this :/. I think I might eventually end up taking lessons; it sounds like fun and very practical, of course.

    Hope you have an awesome week! ;D

    Hugs!

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  27. Well that is just too clever! I always wondered if there was something I could do with all those shoulder pads I've acquired over the years!

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  28. that is just too cute! I love it, the matching band is a great idea too xxx

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  29. oh my gosh what a fantastic idea!! i have thrown away so many shoulder pads :((( and i don't own any shorts!? sounds like i need to go thrifting! ;P
    xoxox

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  30. Yes, pretty easy indeed for those people who know how to sew! I suck:( haha but these are adorable!

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  31. Great idea, I`ll definitely try this <3

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