I’ve never been one to have holes in my jeans, but recently I’ve really wanted to give it a try because I’ve been loving the look. Instead of buying a new pair, I decided I wanted to DIY my ripped jeans. As it turned out, I had a couple of old jeans in my closet that I never wore – which was perfect! They were ones that I had stopped wearing because I preferred other jeans with a better fit or they were slightly worn out (which is perfect for this project!). If I liked the results, it would be a major success because I could repurpose old clothes without having to spend any money!

5 Easy Steps to Creating DIY Ripped Jeans

Step 1: Select a pair of jeans to distress.

• I recommend using a pair you own or buying them used.

Step 2: Gather the tools you need for distressing jeans

• Scissors
• Chalk or a Fabric Marker
• Tweezers
• Seam Ripper
• Sandpaper (Optional)

Step 3: Identify where you’d like to distress your jeans and mark the areas with chalk

Tips on how to mark your jeans:

• Put on the jeans and look in the mirror as you’re marking the pants, so you know exactly where the distressing will land.If you’re still unsure of the look you want, I recommend looking up photos of distressed jeans online. This will provide you with some additional guidance for where to place the holes.

Step 4: Cut your jeans where you’d like the holes to be in your legs.

(Optional: sand the areas before your cut any holes to create additional distressing)

Tips on how to make ripped jeans with scissors

• It’s easier to start small and make your holes bigger, and it’s best to make a couple of smaller holes that line up to help with step 5.

Step 5: Use your seam ripper and/or tweezers to pull out the blue threads

As you do this, make sure to keep the white ones in place. Continue this step until you’ve achieved the look you desire. If you don’t want the white threads to be shown you can cut those pieces after the blue threads have been removed.

What Types of Jeans Can I Distress?

For this project, I had two different kind of jeans – jeggings & jeans with very little stretch and here’s what I found:

Pros & Cons of DIY Ripped Jeggings

I love wearing jeggings that look like jeans. They are so comfortable and easy to wear. The jeggings I used to create my first pair of distressed jeans are from Gap. I love the way that they fit, but this pair was a little worn out and I have not been wearing them.

• Pro: The fabric is super stretchy and easy to wear
• Con: Since the fabric is stretchy, pulling out the individual blue pieces takes longer than with regular jeans.

Pros & Cons of DIY Ripped Jeans

The pair of jeans that I choose to distress are from Old Navy. I’ve had them for years and have found that I don’t wear them all that often anymore. They still fit, but aren’t as stretchy and easy to wear as some of my newer jeans. I wanted to compare making ripped jeans with both jeggings and normal jeans, so this was the perfect pair to use!

• Pro: The fabric for the pair of jeans had little stretch, so it was easier to remove the blue threads and the process was quicker. I also found that the white threads from my jeans were thicker and more visible than the pair of jeggings I used.
• Con: Even though this pair of jeans was easier to distress, I still find my pair of jeggings more comfortable. BUT I do like how these jeans turned out and I am starting to wear them again so that’s a win in my book!

Distressing Jeans is a pretty simple DIY project and can easily be done while listening to music or watching your favorite TV show. My favorite part about this project is that there is no wrong way to do it – you can distress the jeans as much or as little as you’d like. Have you distressed jeans before? How’d it go? Let me know in the comments below!