DIY Ripped Jeans // DIY

The method of making ripped jeans is quite simple, as there are only a few steps and you can't really go wrong - it's kind of like an abstract painting - just make a few slits where ever you want them to be and start distressing. However, there are some things you should keep in mind. Continue reading to know how to make ripped jeans easily...

× × × × × × × × × × × × × × × × × × × × × × × × × × × × × × ×

1) Marking your jeans
The first very important step is to mark where you want your holes/slits/distressing.

Note: It is very important to put on your jeans so you don't end up cutting holes too high/at the wrong places. If you're using a permanent marker, place the lines/marks a bit lower than where you'll actual cut your jeans so you can get rid of the markings and don't have to cut higher in order to do so.

2) Cutting
For the next step, first, take off your jeans and choose a place to dedicate to the future mess. Cut slits if you want to distress the denim and holes if you (wait for the obvious....) want holes. You can use an X-acto knife or any other sharp-bladed object (but be careful and make sure to insert a cardboard or any kind of thick sheet in between if you are using a x-acto knife/cutter!)

Create whatever sized hole you desire but stay at least a little bit away from the border/seam/whatever you call it

Note: You can use an uneven surface like your bed, it doesn't really matter because you will usually find it comfortable to hold the part of the fabric you are cutting/distressing. I personally recommend you sit on the floor as while you remove the fabric threads, the threads will end up everywhere and trust me when I say this, there will be a lot of threads. Everywhere.

3) Detailing holes
Making the holes look messier is quite easy. Once you've cut them out, just take a pair of tweezers and slide it across the edge while applying pressure - this will loosen up the threads at the edge (see bottom picture). You can further pull on either the white (horizontal) strings or the blue (vertical) strings according to how you want your hole to look. Tug on both or just tug on whatever comes in your way if you just don't care...but don't tug on the other side of your jeans!

Note: I've read some blog posts that say rubbing pumice or other hard materials (can't remember the other "hard materials" because I didn't really pay attention) on the edge of the cut helps to loosen up the threads, however, that didn't really do much for me. I think just using a tweezer to tease the edges works just fine and you don't have to look for a pumice stone or whatever.

4) Distressing
Distressing is quite simple too, once you get the hang of it. All you have to do is cut two horizontal (and parallel) slits as long as you want. Then just pull the blue (vertical) strings carefully and the white strings will start to reveal and stay put. You have to be kind of careful with this if you're using sharp tweezers (which you will need if you don't want to take forever) or else you will end up pulling on and breaking the white strings.

Note: You can break the white strings in between or randomly after you pull all the blue strings out, that is up to you. You can even make an extra slit under or above an already cut out hole and distress there to make your hole look distressed.

Note: You can practice distressing on the big fabric scrap piece that you have as a result of cutting out a hole (great especially if you cut out a big knee hole or something like that) and you can find out what size of distressing you would like (you get the idea).

× × × × × × × × × × × × × × × × × × × × × × × × × × × × × × ×

I really like how my jeans turned out. This is great if you love ripped jeans and love being asked if you can't afford normal jeans because now you can say "Yes I can't and I can't afford ripped jeans either, that's why I DIY'd them" and then continue to get weird looks :D (jk, but not really though).

This is really easy but I'd say it is kind of time-consuming (or maybe my jeans were just really stubborn because it took me forever to get the threads loose at first). The DIY is still great and also it's also great if you have old jeans that you want to re-vamp or have a stain on your jeans that you can't get out but only wore the jeans twice and you want to still wear them (like I did from dropping acrylic paint on mine). Kay, Bye!