Until a couple of weeks ago, I thought that distressing my own jeans would take a lot of planning, methodology, and skill. When I tried it, I found out that it was quite the opposite! The type-a in me researched articles of how to distress jeans, set up a workspace, marked the denim with precise lines, and painstakingly started distressing. I quickly came to find that distressing is not distressing if you try to follow an exact tutorial. After abandoning my ways and diving head over heels into the creative process, trial and error taught me some fundamentals for distressing denim. However, it also involved me slicing my finger (worth it), taking a cheese grater to some Levi's, inhaling way too much denim dust, and multiple trips to the Salvation Army. The ordeal also produced some pretty bomb jeans. Lucky for you, you don't have to go through the nitty-gritty because I am here to tell you my "golden rules" for denim distressing.
1: choose a thick pair of jeans // if your denim of choice is thicker, you'll have a better chance of getting the nice white strings with your rips
2: try a dremel // if you have a dremel/other power sander, take advantage of it! That's what I used for most of my distressing and it gets the job done
3: serrated knives work // to avoid getting too clean of a cut when using scissors, use a serrated knife instead
4: try them on // jeans will look best if they're sanded and ripped in the places where wear and tear would actually occur. To achieve this, try your jeans on, then bend your knees. Distress where your knees push most firmly against the fabric and where the fabric folds.
5: don't neglect the hem // there are tons of fun things that you can do with the hem of your pants, so don't forget about it! I love an uneven or fringed hem.
6: have fun! // you'll love wearing your jeans even more if you have a blast making them! Add patches, embroidery or other embellishments to make them your own. Have some friends over, play some music, and make a night of it.
stay sunny,
Meg
