Destroyed Denim Shorts

So, yesterday I was on tumblr and I was inspired by someone's amazing thrift finds for under $15 and decided to go shopping at Goodwill. I hadn't been in a few months so I was really hoping to take home some good clothes. 

Out of everything I bought I was most excited about a pair of old, high-waisted "mom jeans" Levi's. I have been feeling very inspired to craft and DIY lately, but I haven't had any ideas of what to do. I remembered Anna Szczekutowicz's dip-dye denim shorts that she did a while ago and I asked her if she had any tips on cutting them and/or destroying them and she suggested that I watch YouTube videos. This was the one she recommended.

I watched a wide variety about cutting pants into shorts, as well as different techniques on destroying them and I wanted to share some of the tricks that I learned and how I went about making my own destroyed denim shorts.

The first thing I did was cut off the pant legs. A lot of the video suggested that you should cut them significantly longer than your ideal length the first time you cut them. This allows you to adjust the line and curve of your cut, so that you can make the legs even, and it also leaves a lot of room for mistakes.

Another big tip was to cut the front layer of the pant legs first and then cut the back, making the back about one to two inches longer than the front. This is to make room for you butt, because it will push out the back of the shorts, making them look shorter than you cut them. I have made the mistake of not doing this and cutting the front and back evenly and then I can't wear the shorts because they don't cover my backside.

As you can see from the picture above, I cut the back longer than the front, as well as cutting it in a semi-circle. This just gave me a little more room for potential mistakes. It also inspired me to cut the bottoms into a tulip shape instead of straight across.

After the initial cut of the legs, I tried on the shorts and thought about how short I wanted the top of the tulip to be, NOT how short I wanted the length of the shorts to be. I made a mark and cut a slit on the inseam of one pant leg while I was still wearing the shorts.

I took a ruler and measured from one seam of the inseam to the top of my cut and then marked and cut the other leg of the shorts at the same length.

I tried the shorts on again and marked and cut where I wanted the tip of the tulip on the outer side of the shorts to be.

I took them off and measured from the pocket to the top of the cut and made the same cut on the other side. Afterward I cut a curve from the top of the cut on the inseam to the top of the cut on the outer seam. This took me a couple tries to get both curves on one pant leg equal, as well as both of the pant legs equal to each other.

I folded the pant leg in half and matched up the seams, then I tried to make the cut as even as possible, to where is was a mirrored edge.

When you are making the tulip cut, you will be left with a little piece sticking off of the outer seam. I just made a straight cut to take this off.

I cut the back part of the legs significantly shorter. After almost every cut I tried the shorts on again to make sure that they were turning out how I wanted them to. 

Once I was pretty much satisfied with the bottom, I started to fray the edges.

If you look on the inside of the denim, you will see white threads running horizontally and blue threads running vertically. These are what you are going to manipulate in order to crate the destroyed affect. First, you want to begin pulling out the white threads. Because of the tulip cut, there will be some white threads that will come out all the way across, starting at the peak of the semi-circle. You can pull those out all the way across the pant leg. After a few threads, you may need to go to the edge of the tulip and start pulling the threads from there. As you move toward the peak of the semi-circle, the white threads will begin to get dispersed across the bottom of the pant leg.

 After a few threads, you may need to go to the edge of the tulip and start pulling the threads from there. As you move toward the peak of the semi-circle, the white threads will begin to get dispersed across the bottom of the pant leg. 

The threads will look like this.

This is what the leg looked like when I was done. Afterward, I did the other leg the same way.

To make the hole, all you need to do is cut two lines horizontally on the leg. Take the middle section that you have created and start pulling out the white threads like you did on the bottom.

Tip: Don't make the hole too close to the bottom. When you wash and dry the shorts, the hole will get bigger and the bottom will fray up more. You do not want to create a giant hole.

(I actually just took mine out of the washer and this happened, I am going to have to try to sew it up later.)

Some of the white threads will not go all the way across and you will pull those out first. Then, start pulling out the ones that go all the way across. The blue vertical threads will start being more noticeable. Pull the white threads out from the top and the bottom of the middle piece. Once there are only a few white threads left, you can pull out the vertical blue threads. Next, Pull out the white threads from the piece above and below the middle chunk that you just too apart.

Another method of destroying the denim that I found was easier, faster, and looked more "naturally occurring" was to take an exacto knife and rub it diagonally, perpendicular to the diagonal lines in the denim, with slight pressure, over and over in a general area. Don't press hard enough to cut slits in the fabric, but hard enough to gradually wear down the threads. Afterward I would press the edge of the exacto knife onto the denim at a slight angle and rub back and forth, further distressing the material.

I also took the edge of the blade and rubbed it along the edges of seams and folds in the material as well as on the top edge of the pockets and the top of the waist.

And voila!

WARNING: This is what happened because I made the hole too close to the edge. When I washed them, the hole got bigger and the bottoms frayed up until the met and made this happen. All I had to do was sew it and the frayed edges hid the stitches perfectly. I also sewed around the holes and around the hems so that they won't fray too much more.

xoxo