How To EASILY Distress Denim Jeans In 3 Minutes (DIY Video Tutorial)

How To Distress Your Denim Jeans
There’s something beautiful about a pair
of dark washed denim in pristine condition.
But, sometimes, you just got to let out your
inner bad boy. 

The right pair of distressed jeans can look
amazing. The problem with store-bought distressed
denim is it doesn’t always look very realistic.
What if I told you, it’s easy to take a
pair of jeans and distress them yourself?
Thomas with Real Men Real Style here. And
in today’s video, I’m going to show you
how to make an awesome pair of distressed
jeans.

Here are the tools you’re going to need
to get started. First up, a fabric pencil,
low grit sandpaper, a lint roller, a razor,
tweezers or seam ripper, a piece of cardboard,
a pair of scissors, a knife or another sharp
cutting tool.
Step number one. Mark your cuts. Plan out
where you’ll be cutting the jeans before
you start. Just going crazy on them is unlikely
to yield the result you want. The key to great
distressing is to make it look realistic.
Stick to weathering the parts of the jeans
that will naturally get the most wear and
tear.
The main area you want to weather is the knees.
But don’t forget under the front pockets,
where keys and other items can wear down the
fabric over time.
Take the fabric pencil and mark where you
want to create your holes. Draw a few horizontal
lines. Try to avoid making them the same length
though as that starts to look too symmetrical
and artificial.
Remember, gents, less is more. Going overboard
on the distressing is not a great look.
Step number two. Start cutting. There are
variety of items you can use to cut your jeans
open. Whatever you use, be careful to only
cut the top side of the fabric. If using a
knife, I advice putting cardboard between
the two layers of fabric to protect the backside
of the jeans.

Cut through the lines you drew with your fabric
pencil. Go and flip your jeans inside out.
It’s time to start pulling some threads.
The black or blue threads of the jeans run
vertically; the white threads, run horizontally.
Now, take your tweezers or your seam ripper
and start to pull off the white threads one
by one. As you continue to pull off the white
threads, the vertical threads are going to
start to create excess fuzz. Go and take your
scissors and trim those as they start to build
up.

I do recommend leaving a little fuzz at the
edges, as to my eye, it looks more realistic
than a super clean edge. Keep repeating until
the hole is as large as you’d like. You
can pull just a few threads if you like the
holes to remain tiny. But, if you like the
aesthetic of a lot of threads, then keep pulling
until you’re fully connected to the cuts.
You may end up with a few white threads that
aren’t connected on both ends. Just use
your scissors to trim those off.
The next step to weather your jeans is to
use some good old fashioned sandpaper. I recommend
using something rough like a 60 or 80 grit.
Sand over the holes you created in the previous
step. This roughens up the edges making them
up here more natural. Rough up an erased areas
that will also receive wear and tear like
the top edge of the pockets or the belt loops.
Finally, with enough scraping, you can create
unique holes in the fabric different than
the holes you made with your scissor or knife.
Keep sanding until you are satisfied with
the level of wear. The sandpaper will lift
up quite a bit of fuzz. Simply use lint roller
to remove it.

Another way you can tear up the jeans is by
simply grabbing your razor blade. This is
a great tool to cut up the fabric edges without
creating extra fuzz like the sandpaper. Simply
lift up the edge you want to cut and run the
razor back and forth. Just be very careful
not to cut yourself.

So, guys, when it comes to distressed denim,
are you team black jeans or team blue jeans?
Let me know in the comments below.
Step number five. Wash. Finish off by sending
the jeans to the washing machine to clear
away any loose threads or fuzz.

There you have it, gents. Now, you have the
perfect pair of distressed jeans.
But, what do you do if you have a dirty piece
of clothing that you want to bring back to
life? Check out this video right here, gents,