Get More Out of Your Clothes!

Hey guys! AllieCat here. So it's that time of year when you are just starting to think about cold weather clothes. It's still summer, but you find yourself going through jeans from last year. And there is always that sad moment when your favorite pair of jeans is too short, and it leaves your ankles exposed. But wait! Don't throw those in the trash! You can easily repurpose those old jeans to be shorts! It's simple.

What You Will Need:

• pair of too short jeans
• fabric scissors or just really sharp ones :)
• needle and thread (optional)
• iron (optional)
• bleach (optional)
• razor knife (optional)

Here's what you do:

1. put your pair of jeans on
2. using a marker, mark where you want to cut them (NOTE: make the cut about 2-3 inches longer than the length you want the shorts to end up)
3. take off the jeans an lay them out flat
4. using your scissors, cut straight along the mark you made ON ONE LEG
5. then, fold the jeans in half hot dog style, line up very evenly, and cut the other leg along the line you already cut.
6. now you have a pair of shorts. Below are some options to make them more attractive or spice them up!

Bleaching:

Bleaching denim gives it a distressed look. It lightens the fabric to create cool effects. Here are some things you can do with bleaching!

1. tie dye bleaching:

• scrunch up your new shorts and place rubber bands in different areas completely randomly.
• Fill a spray bottle with 1/2 bleach, 1/2 water, and lightly spray denim
• After about 10 minutes, unwrap shorts and see if it is faded enough for your taste. if not, leave it for a little longer.
• when it is sufficiently faded, wash them!

    2.  Distress bleaching:

• Fill spray bottle with a mix of bleach and water. The ratio depends on how faded you want this to be
• Spray certain areas. The ones that look best would be around the pockets, cuffs, and very lightly on the legs.
• Wait until it is sufficiently faded, then wash!

Cuffing:

This will give your shorts a neater appearance.

1. Simply fold up the bottoms of your shorts twice, aka double cuffing.
2. If you want to, use needle and thread to sew the sides of the cuffing so they don't come undone.
3. I recommend ironing the cuff to keep the creases stiff.

Distressing:

This gives your shorts a worn, and well, distressed look.

1. Simply take a sharp razor knife, and repeatedly swipe across the fabric so there is slight fraying and tears. I don't reccomend making large holes in your shorts...

And now you have a super cute pair of shorts that didn't cost a dime! You can also make cheap shorts just by purchasing a pair of jeans from goodwill and using these techniques. This way, your shorts will be cheaper, and you can make them more dress code appropriate then some you would find at stores!

Have fun and don't forget about our contest in the previous post!