Upcycling Old Jeans for the Summer

Summer is here. Maybe your kid’s jean have gotten too short, or you know that they will not fit come Fall. Try upcycling them into some cute jean shorts for the summer!

Grab some:

• Sewing Scissors
• Felt
• Tweezers
• Sandpaper
• Fork
• Fabric Glue

To Make Distressed Jeans:

• 

Step 1: Make your jeans into shorts

Try on your jeans. Mark the length you want them at with a pen. Take them off. Cut the jeans along the line you drew.

Step 2: Decide where you want to add your distressed rips in your jeans.

• 

Try your jeans shorts back on. With your pen or chalk draw two horizontal lines where you would like the hole to be.

Try and keep the lines as straight and horizontal as possible.

Step 3: Start cutting!

Cut along the lines. If you want a small hole: make only two lines about a half inch apart and then cut along each line. If you want a larger distressed hole: Cut several horizontal lines (see above photo), each 1/2 inch apart. DO NOT CUT OUT THE SIDES! You just want to cut slits in the jeans, not make a hole!

• 

Step 4: Pull out the VERTICAL threads

Use your tweezers to begin pulling out all of the vertical threads from the slitted rectangle that you cut.

Do not pull out the white horizontal threads! Or you will just end up with a hole, and not with the distressed look.

You want to pull out the dark threads (they will be blue or black depending on the color of your jeans). Be careful not to rip the white threads in the process.

• 

• 

• 

It’s a slow process. So be patient.

Step 5: Finishing touches

You can blend the edge of your rip or the edges of your cut-offs by using a fork and scraping it up and down on the cut off edge, or with sandpaper. If you want extra long strings hanging down use tweezers.

• 

• 

You can also add some felt decorations for fun with fabric glue. Use cookie cutters to get perfect shapes.

• 

• 

• 

You can decorate the back pockets or add finishing touches on the edges of the shorts. It’s also a super cute touch to add a ripped patch on the back pocket of your jeans as well.

Happy creating and happy summer!