DIY: Distressed Jeans!

We know that labels like One Teaspoon make pretty perfect distressed / ripped jeans, but how many of you know how to DIY? We all have an old pair of jeans that would look SO good if only we could tear them to perfection ourselves! The research has thankfully been done for you and I’m sharing with you  the easiest and best way to tear yourself a new pair of jeans!

WHAT YOU NEED:

Pair of jeans

Ruler

Sandpaper

Pumice stone

Stanley knife

Scissors

Small flat block of wood

Bleach

An old rag

WHAT TO DO:

1.  There’s HEAPS of different techniques to distressing denim, but I think that the safest thing is to stick to sandpapering, pumicing, scraping and cutting.

2.  First thing’s first – decide where you want the frayed areas to be. Use a pencil and ruler and measure where and how wide you want the tears to be. Draw it out and pick a place to start. Put your wood inside the jeans (so you don’t get the back of the leg while you’re doing the front) and get your tools ready.

3.  SANDPAPERING: This wears down the denim. Use your sandpaper in a side-to-side rubbing action until you start to see the denim becoming thinner.

4.  PUMICING: This does pretty much the same thing as the sandpaper. It just helps the process along. Rub the pumice stone the same way you did with the sandpaper. The fabric should start to fray.

5.  STANLEY KNIFE: This will create perfect fraying. Scrape the blade across the fabric, side-to-side (the wood should still be inside your jeans).

6.  CUTTING: Use your scissors to cut a hole in the middle of the distressed area, however wide you like.

7.  BLEACHING (optional): Get your old rag and dampen a small section of it with bleach. Rub the bleach across ONLY the distressed area, in the same direction as you’ve done the other stuff.

8.  Now J you’re pretty much done! All you have to do is not pull at the threads, they will now fray naturally. You can also wash your jeans to fray them a little more.

9.  Try your new awesome jeans on and if you’re not happy with them, do the above steps again.

Love xxx