Everyone adores jeans, so making them personal to your individual style is sometimes difficult. To create a look that’s all your own, why not get on the distressed denim trend and make your own customised jeans?
For help and tips, check out this step-by- step guide put together by QUIZ — top UK retailer of sequin dresses.
Step 1: Prepare your jeans for distressing
First step is to choose which jeans you want to customise. Then, pull them on and look at yourself in front of a long mirror — this way, you can see exactly which parts of your jeans that you want to change. Pockets, knees and the bum are popular places to modify, as they are the areas that naturally wear and tear. Use chalk to mark out where you want to distress.
Step 2: Creating the perfect cuts
Now, select a safety knife and get your jeans ready in front of you, lying them out on the floor or a table (nowhere easily scratched). Now, put a section of cardboard inside your jeans, beneath the area you want to modify, to make sure you only cut one side of the jeans. When you begin cutting, change up the lengths of your rips to create a natural-looking tear, while creating a rough, diamond shape incision using different-sized cuts.
Step 3: Making frays
Nothing says distressed fashion like frays. Along the edge of each cut, gently tease the horizontal white threads using a safety pin. Then, using tweezers, pluck out the vertical threads to leave just the white horizontal threads. Repeat this for each cut.
Step 4: Fading your denim
Remember when you used to use sandpaper during woodwork lessons at school? Well, now’s the time to retest those skills. Create a distressed, faded look by taking a piece of sandpaper and rubbing it across parts of your jeans. This will create a natural-looking colour fade, perfect for adding the finishing touches to your distressed denim creation.
Step 5: Making your design personal
At this point, you might want to call it quits and start matching your gorgeous distressed denims with a boxy shirt, graphic top or batwing jumper. However, if you want to add further personalisation, why not stitch on some patches of fabric? If you want a subtle embellishment, try lace. This is a classic feminine fabric that will dress up your modern distressed denim with retro charm for the ideal smart-casual look. Alternatively, floral motifs are in vogue and practically leap off distressed denim to give you an eye-catching contrast of grunge and chic.
Now, get out there and show off your personalised distressed jeans!