5 Fabulous DIY Denim Ideas
Every summer, it’s the same story. The sun comes out, and you’re immediately excited to be able to shorts without freezing to death. You drive to the nearest mall, drop too much money on a mediocre pair of denim shorts from Forever 21, wear them, wash them, wear them, wash them, and then not so shockingly, they fall apart. You head back to the mall and do it all over again because you’ve gotta have cute summer clothes, right? #SunsOutBumsOut
But get ready for this life changer… you don’t have to waste your money buying the same shitty shorts that a billion other girls bought too! Instead, be thrifty, creative and original — make your own! Here are five ways that you too can be a Pinterest-worthy DIY queen.
1. Shreds
For simple destroyed jeans or shorts, there are tons of methods to try. This means you can customize them however you want. Start with any pair of jeans — check out Goodwill or a thrift store for a vintage look. If you want shorts, use fabric scissors to cut the jeans to your desired length (and start by making them longer than you think you want them, just in case). Then, go crazy. You can use scissors for full-out holes, or sandpaper or a cheese grater for subtler distressing. Always rub horizontally against the jeans to get the white strings to appear. If you want threads on the bottom instead of cuffs, distress the bottom edge and use a tweezers to pull out threads.
2. Quilt
For a granny-chic yet fashion-forward pair of shorts, try adding other fabrics to your denim. The jeans in the photo are $259, but you can make something similar for just a few bucks. Go to a fabric store and look in the discount fabric bin for scraps, or recycle old clothes you don’t want by using their fabric. Then sew (or glue, if you’re lazy) the scraps onto your denim however you want, using smaller pieces if you’re making shorts and bigger pieces for pants.
3. Bleach
Make your shorts edgier by dip-dying them in bleach. You can try doing bleach on the bottom half of the shorts, or copy the photo by doing a half-and-half look. Just make sure you follow the instructions on the bleach carefully — letting shorts soak for too long can destroy them!
4. Patch
Channel your inner ‘90s girl by bringing back patched denim. Check out this site for tons of cool patches, or see if a vintage store near you has them. Just choose any designs you like, and iron them on to your shorts, jeans, jackets, or anything else.
5. Overalls
Ditch the idea of shorts altogether for cool overalls. If you can’t find any at the thrift store, look on Ebay or Etsy for vintage ones. Then, distress them, quilt them, bleach them, patch them — or create a new technique on your own!
Which denim look are you going to try? Tell us in the comments or tweet us @jerkmagazine.
Art by Shawna Rabbas