It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know how to turn jeans into cut-offs so I’m not reinventing the wheel over here, but I thought it would be fun to show you the transformation of these oh-so-styling mom jeans into sexy 70’s style distressed shorts and prove that you don’t have to drop a ton of money to get the same style from designers and shops. I’m not kidding you when I say that when I was shopping for a pair that the prices tags were ranging from $60 to $120. Knowing that the thrift stores are well stocked with high waisted styles, I knew I could make a pair of my own at a fraction of the cost. All you need is chalk, scissors, and a knife!
Supplies:
One pair of badass mom jeans
Chalk or pen
Scissors
Serrated knife
I totally channeled my inner Tina Fey when modeling these bad boys..
Put your jeans on and using a wall mirror to see, draw a line right under your booty or where you’re comfortable with these being cropped. Repeat on the other side.
Take the jeans off and lay flat on the ground. Of course make sure that you have a cat there to hold them still while you work.
Draw a diagonal line from the back inner thigh up to the end of the line on the outer edges of the pants. Repeat on the other side. This is just to leave yourself some extra cutting room so that you don’t cut these too short the first time. Cut across the lines you just made.
Feel free to try them on again and make sure you’re comfortable with the length. Grab a measuring tape and see how far from… okay I HATE this word for some reason.. from the crotch of the jeans that you would want them to be cut at. Three inches is usually the standard for most of my other shorts. Measure about 3″ down, again help from the cat is always needed, and make a small mark with the chalk.
Cut diagonally from this mark to the outer edge again.
You can leave them plain and just roll them up or throw them in the wash to let the bottom hem fray. For a distressed look, grab your knife!
I cut an inch up on the sides so these would roll up easier and then went crazy on them with a serrated knife. To get the really nice frayed look, you want to almost scrape them with the knife over and over to wear the denim down. This makes them look and feel much more worn in.
Throw them in the wash and let the machine do the rest of the work at fraying them and you’re done!
I made mine the day before a photoshoot and they worked out perfect! And I must say that wandering around and drinking beer while trying to look cool has been one of my favorite shoots so far! haha
Head over to Robert Hamilton’s Instagram to see more of his work and photos from this set!
