DIY Destroyed Distressed Denim

Fabulously frayed denim never goes out of style and is ridiculously simple to achieve with the right repurposed tool:

Here’s my groovy method (& secret tool) for easily giving your thrifted jeans that wonderfully worn out DIY Destroyed Distressed Denim look –

Grab your denim victim, a piece of wood or thick cardboard, a razor knife, chalk & a brilliant 3-way bbq brush. This fab little cleaning tool has all of the textures needed to create natural looking wear & tear: a stiff scrubber, a sharp scraper and marvelous metallic bristles!

Put on your jeans (or other denim gear) and mark where you’d like the destruction to take place. I marked where my jeans naturally wear out: at the knees and under the right front pocket where I always end up toting munchkin collected items.

Pop the wood (or cardboard) in between the front & back layer of denim and grab the razor knife.

Slice on through.

Grab the bbq brush and rub it across the cuts and you’ll have a wickedly instant, worn out fray!

Pop the wood into a pocket and run the razor knife over the hem.

Use the scrubber pad part of the bbq brush for a groovy tattered edge.

Short slashes at the pocket also gives a cool well-worn look.

Once you’re happy with your destruction, toss the denim into a 3 parts water/1 part bleach mixture to fade the colour and then wash and dry as usual.

Before bleaching these jeans were black – Cool beans, man!

Create your own textured t-shirt with my easy video DIY:

The perfect outfit for a mini zipline with the kiddo:

4 Comments

  1. Alice W says:

    I recently thrifted a rather frumpy looking below-the-knee denim skirt, which keeps going back on the pile as I wasn’t sure what to do with the hem. I going to try this!

    Do you have a tutorial for making the t-shirt yarn, or is it just cutting it into strips? How do you get it so neat?

    1. This technique would be awesome on a skirt!
      Here’s my simple oldie but goodie method for creating the t-shirt yarn + another funky embellishing how-to: https://awesomesauceasshattery.com/2011/11/19/the-punkadelic-pipeline-technique/

  2. love seeing this! When I see jeans that look exactly like this in the stores for $200 it blows me away-pay that much for holes? not me. Great tutorial!

    1. Yep, it’s insane what people will pay for “cool” destruction…especially when it’s sooooo easy to do yourself for free! 😉

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