How to Distress Jeans in 7 Steps

Distressed jeans are denim pants manufactured or stylized to feel more vintage, relaxed, and worn-in. Distressed jeans may feature rips, tears, fraying edges, or fading indigo dye. The distressed quality will give your pair of jeans a more lived-in and comfortable appearance, making them look like stylish old jeans. You can find distressed jeans at thrift stores and high-end retailers, or you can distress a pair of jeans yourself.

Ripped jeans are a type of distressed jeans, but there are a few key differences:

• Location of wear: Ripped jeans can have holes anywhere on the pant leg, whereas rips and tears on distressed jeans generally appear at the knee or around the ankle to mimic usual wear and tear.
• Amount of wear: Holes and cuts can be part of ripped and distressed jeans, but the difference is the volume of the tears. Ripped jeans tend to have large gashes, while distressed jeans are more subtle and mimic the natural result of wear and tear.
• Thread color: When created by clothing brands, the thread color is also a key part of distressed denim, which will fade from indigo blue to pale blue or white threads to create a more worn look.

A few household items will be all you’ll need to give your pair of denim jeans a vintage, distressed look.

1. 1. Tailor’s chalk: You’ll need a bit of tailor’s chalk to mark where you want to make your cuts. Chalk makes clear marks and comes out easily in the wash. White chalk works exceptionally well on black jeans.
2. 2. Cutting tools: Use scissors, a kitchen knife, or a box cutter to make your incisions when cutting your jeans. You can use a razor, or even a cheese grater, on pockets or select other parts of your denim to create small cuts for a worn look. Be sure to smooth over with sandpaper or cut threads with scissors to take care of loose frays.
3. 3. A thin piece of cardboard: You will need to slide a piece of cardboard into your pants so you have something to cut on. The cardboard will keep the back of your jeans intact.
   
4. 4. Tweezers: Use tweezers or a seam ripper to tear at your jeans’ threads and give it a genuine distressed look. If you don’t have a seam ripper or tweezers, a safety pin is another easy tool to help you pick at and remove threads on the inside of your jeans.
5. 5. Sandpaper: At the end of the distressing process, use higher grit sandpaper to sand down the newly formed cuts on your jeans. Sanding will give the jeans a clean but worn styling.

Beginners can follow these instructions step-by-step to create DIY distressed jeans:

1. 1. Choose your pair of jeans. In general, tighter or newer jeans work best for destressing. However, you can destress any pair of straight-leg jeans, boyfriend jeans, or whatever type you prefer.
2. 2. Mark your cuts. Use some chalk to note your cuts, marking them in places where you’d naturally create tears through wearing (such as at the knees and upper thigh). Draw horizontal lines of varying lengths at these locations, but keep them to about eight marks—too many (and too large of cuts) will look artificial and forced.
3. 3. Prepare your workstation. Place your jeans on a flat surface, ideally a cutting board. Slip a piece of cardboard up the pant legs to sit at where you will cut, ensuring the incisions do not go through to the back of your jeans.
4. 4. Make your cuts. Use a kitchen knife or pair of scissors to make cuts into your jeans, not cutting past the measured chalk marks.
5. 5. Pull threads. Turn your jeans inside out. With a pair of tweezers, pull at the white threads, which run horizontally in your jeans. Pulling these threads will cause some black or blue horizontal threads to flare out; you can trim those with your scissors. Cut until the hole is as gaping or threaded as you like.
6. 6. Use sandpaper on your holes and cuts. Use sixty-grit sandpaper to sand over the holes you created to tidy up the edges. Sand until you like the degree of wear on your pants.
   
7. 7. Wash your new pair of distressed jeans. A run through the washer and dryer will remove any fuzz, clean them, and get them ready for wear.

After distressing your jeans, you can add some paint splatters. Dip a paintbrush into some white paint and spatter with tiny speckles around the thighs and legs. Place cardboard beneath the holes, so the paint doesn’t run through, and let the pants dry for a full day before washing.

After you distress denim jeans, you can wear a crisp t-shirt for a casual look or sport a colorful graphic t-shirt. For extra flair, throw on a leather or denim jacket.

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