How to Give Dark Jeans a Distressed Worn-in Look
Distressed jeans are a popular fashion today. Designer distressed jeans can be very expensive, sometimes costing hundreds of dollars a pair. Another option is to distress your own jeans to create a look that you like for little money and have control over the process as well.
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Things You'll Need
- Jeans
- Old sheet or towel
- Plastic grocery bags
- Bleach
- Bowl
- Rubber gloves
- Sponge
- Washing machine
- Small kitchen grater
- Sandpaper (optional)
Instructions
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Fading and Softening
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1
Cover your work surface with an old sheet or towel. This will protect it from bleach stains. Place your jeans on the sheet or towel.
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2
Insert some plastic grocery bags into the legs of your jeans. This will help you keep an uneven look to your fading. If you want the fading to be symmetrical, do not insert the bags. Make sure the jeans are laying flat.
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3
Pour some bleach into a bowl. Wearing rubber gloves, dip a sponge into the bleach and wring the sponge gently to remove some of the bleach. You do not want too much bleach on the sponge or else it may drip, which may lead to unwanted effects on your jeans.
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4
Use the sponge to rub the jeans. Use long motions. Focus on those areas that usually fade the most, like the knees, seat and the hemline. Do this to the legs, front and back.
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5
Remove the plastic grocery bags.
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6
Wash your jeans immediately in the washing machine in cold water. Do not put any other clothing in the wash with them or you will bleach those clothes as well.
Distressing
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7
Choose a small kitchen grater, such as a cinnamon or nutmeg grater. The finer the grater, the better. You can use a cheese grater; however, the graters are usually not as fine and can cause more damage than distress. If you prefer, you can also use sandpaper.
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8
Rub the grater over areas you want to distress, such as the hemline, pockets or knees.
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9
Repeat step 2 as necessary on areas you want more heavily distressed. This will tear some of the fabric without making large holes.
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1
References
- Photo Credit Jeans image by Francis Bourgouin from Fotolia.com
