D I Y | Distressed Cut Offs

It came to my attention the other day that I lacked a pair of black jean shorts, and I really wanted a pair, but as I'm currently 'economising' I decided to ransack my wardrobe for an old pair of black jeans I don't really wear. I've hacked up quite a few pairs of jeans in my time, creating total cock ups along the way. Most of the time they would end up with one leg longer than the other or just looked like totally lame cut offs that I did myself (which...duh? I did!). But as times gone on and about 10 pairs of jeans have met a scissory end at my hand I have finally devised a fool proof cut of plan!

1 | Select your jeans

2 | Turn them inside out and fold them over

3 | Place a pair of shorts on top as a guide line reference

4 | Using a white eye liner draw dashes along your jeans to guide your scissor happy hands

5 | Cut along your dotted line

6 | Re-fold your jeans so you now have a new guideline

7 | Using your white eyeliner again create your second set of lines

8 | Cut along the dotted line again

At this point I usually try on my shorts to see how the fit and how long they are once folded. I had to cut about another inch off to reach the length I was after.

9 | I've found the best way to fray the raw edge of your jeans is to use the inner most part of blunt scissors and scrape backwards and forwards to achieve a frayed edge

10 | Once your happy with your fray, fold up the edges and sew the very inner parts to keep the fold in place and the very outer part

11 | To create your holes pinch together the fabric

12 | ...and cut!

Use the same fraying techniques on your holes

One of the holes I made was over a pocket so a decided to sew in a patch from an old shirt to give the shorts a little character.

And your all done! Each time you wear them and wash them the will become a little more frayed and distressed looking.