STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

Ritz · Dooney & Bourke

DIY question.. cut off denim

Sunshinegirl · Kate Spade

Ritz,

I want to do the same thing to a pair of french connection jeans that i have and was wondering the same thing.

Anyone have any ideas how to go about this properly??

luckylily · Gucci

It should be pretty easy. They are going to fray naturally in the wash. However, they will continue to fray a bit more each time you wash them. If you want the fraying to stay as neat and tidy as it is in this photo, you'll have to do a little trimming and maintenance after each wash. It won't be enough to make them shorter and shorter tho.

If you can, a nice pair of sharp fabric scissors will make it much easier to cut a straight line w/ no jogs.

Sandy · Kate Spade

I know there's something you can buy to stop fraying, but I'm not sure what it's called. So you could cut them, wash them until you get the desired fray, then put that stuff on so they don't fray anymore. Or if you don't want any fray, just apply the stuff before you wash. I'm sure it's avaliable at any craft or fabric store. This is a totally obvious suggestion, I'm sorry, but I'd recommend marking the jeans with a straight edge before you cut. I tried to cut jeans into Bermudas a few years ago (before the craze, so they weren't in stores) and failed miserably... I guess I didn't really think about marking them, because they came out so uneven that I had to turn them into shorts

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MissMee · Kate Spade

The fabric stuff is called "fray stop" but I'm sure there are a few brands of this stuff. You'd just run it on the inside of the shorts just above where you cut them so the denim will fray up to that point. You may have to do touch-ups every few washes, but maybe not.

e_doli · Dooney & Bourke

i did this with a skirt a while ago and it worked well -- i just kept washing it until it had frayed enough (3 or 4 times, i think)