My good friend Anna from No Stone and I, decided to get together for a bit of a jeans ripping session. Denim is one of those fabulous pieces of clothing that seems to always stay in fashion. I’m yet to meet one person who doesn’t have at least one pair of jeans in their wardrobe. They are timeless and just so versatile. The most recent denim trend for girls is to wear a loose “boyfriend” silhouette, shorts and full length, most of the time with rolled up hems and also with random rips at all ends of the scale, from just one on each knee to rips all the way up both legs.
I tend to love rips all the way up the leg, so that the pocket bags stick out a bit. I feel like these rips are quite flattering to wear, even on a “fat” day! So, I decided I would make my DIY ripped jeans, based on a favourite black pair of mine that were already in my wardrobe.
Below I will give you a little toolkit list and simple step-by-step instructions. Be warned… This will be super messy and a bit of a work-out, especially if you’re doing rips all the way up the leg like me. But it’s totally worth it and will breathe life into an old pair of jeans that you may not have worn otherwise.
Just as a side note, I actually purchased my jeans from an op-shop. This is a great way to do it as you can sometimes find an amazing pair of jeans that a brand may have donated – either excess stock or samples. However, even if it isn’t a donated pair of jeans, an old second-hand pair will make the ripping job much easier.
So, now for the toolkit list…. You will need:
Inspiration images of ripped denim
1 x sharp stanley knife
1 x pumice stone
1 x piece of heavy sandpaper
1 x paddle grater
1 x pair of scissors
1 x lead pencil or tailor’s chalk
1 x long block of wood, width to be smaller than the width of the jeans leg
1 x small block of wood, to wrap the sandpaper around
and of course 1 x pair of jeans
Once you have all of these things, here is a simple set of step-by-step instructions on how to get ripping:
1) Place the long block of wood inside the length of one of the legs
2) Get the small block of wood wrapped in sandpaper and start rubbing the area on top of the long block of wood, where you would like the rips to go. Rub the area in all different directions – you will notice that all the bits of fluff start to rub off – this is having the effect of softening and thinning the fabric before applying any rips. It is crucial to do this step before applying any cuts
3) Take the paddle grater and pumice stone and rub the same area in all different directions as well – this helps with the fabric preparation
4) Once you have worked out where you want your rips to go, you can start applying some cuts. I found that by following a pre-done pair of ripped jeans made it super easy because I knew the position of the rips on my legs would already be good. However, if you don’t have access to a pair of ripped jeans, another good way is to put the jeans on and in the mirror draw where you want the rips to go with a lead pencil or tailor’s chalk.
5) Taking the stanley knife, do several cuts accross the area, making sure to start small as you can always cut into them more, but you can’t go back if you’ve cut too far
6) Using the sandpaper, pumice stone and grater, rub over the cut area in all different directions again until you reach the desired amount of fraying
7) Repeat all the steps on both legs, until you are happy with the amount of rips
My DIY ripped jeans were ready to rock and roll after doing all this, but you may find that you want to wash the jeans after ripping to encourage a more worn, frayed look. It’s totally up to you and dependent on what look you are going for. They will of course soften over time as you wear them and the size of the rips will grow.
Hot Tip: Make sure you step into your ripped jeans carefully! Runaway toes tend to get caught easily and can tear a huge hole in your jeans if you are not careful. Putting on a pair of ripped jeans requires a beautifully pointed Ballet toe and delicate steps. 
For some more inspo images on how to wear denim, go to one of my previous posts, “STRIPES & DENIM“
Love VS x