I am going to admit something shameful and embarrassing...
When I was about 21 I had over thirty pairs of jeans. I know, it's crazy. It's not that I went nuts and bought jeans all the time (ok, maybe a little...) but rather, I would horde all my old ones because I was too scared to give them away. Sort of like clothing separation anxiety I guess. I just always thought in the back of my head I will definitely wear these again soon. Although, sadly I never do and they retire to the bottom of the very high pile of white, blue and black. The shelf that held these actually started to bend and buckle from the weight.
Anyway, eventually I started to wise up and I realized 'yea I probably won't wear those'. It took me quite a while because I only became this wise a couple years ago when all the ripped destroyed styles started coming back in style. I took a couple of old Zara jeans and turned them into shorts, then I took a pair of old dated longer shorts from my post pregnancy summer and destroyed them a bit (I wear these the most to this day in the summer). I took REALLY old straight leg jeans and made them super skinny. It makes me happy to bring life back into these old items that are collecting dust. There are a few ways you can do this, too, and some are really simple, some require more skill. Here they are:
1. Destroy Them- you need scissors and tweezers
This is pretty simple. For the large rips where it is just a clean cut, take scissors and cut an opening horizontally across the knee. For the type of cuts that have threads going across you make two horizontal cuts and with the tweezers pull out the threads that run vertical one by one. Fray the edges with the scissors by rubbing hard.
2. Crop Them- just scissors
This is super easy if you are just cutting skinny jeans into a skinny cropped jean. You can fray the hem or finish it off depending on skill level using a sewing machine or hemming tape. But frayed hems are in style now! I would recommend doing this with any old bell bottoms you are for sure not going to wear and if you are fashionably adventurous to achieve this look:
Simply turn them into shorts. I would not recommend doing this with a tight fit unless you have extremely tiny fit thighs. I made this mistake myself and ended up with sausage thighs... sigh.
Again, you can add some cuts and rips and destroy them a bit or leave them classic and clean with a finished hem.
4. Skirt Them- Scissors, seam ripper and a sewing machine
This one requires a little bit more skill than the others, but is still not crazy hard. Denim skirts made a huge comeback and they are pretty popular in mid length (knee) or minis. To do this, you cut to your desired length. I would leave extra room just in case, you can always cut shorter if desired but you can't add fabric back! Take the seam ripper and gently take apart the inner seams. Once inner seams are taken apart you can cut to make the seam straight or leave it with original seams. sew! Original seams will look like this:
straight will look like this:
You can add patches from a local craft store or online Here.
5. Try Something New-All you need is imagination
When it comes to our denim, there are ways we wear them that make us comfortable. Try going outside of your comfort zone and trying something different. If you ever only dressed your jeans down and casual, try going more elegant and dressy and pair them with heels and a fancy top. Or the other way around! If you haven't yet done head to toe denim, give that a shot.
Thanks for reading!
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