Ripped Jeans | How To

If you follow me on Twitter, you'll know that I have been in the market for my perfect pair of ripped jeans for quite some time now.. Having tried on several pairs over the course of the last few months I've been left disappointed. I just want a rip in the knee. Is that too much to ask? You can get ripped thighs and the arse ripped out of them but not the knee?

Then I spotted these on ASOS only to remember.. My short legs. It is difficult enough to find a pair of jeans that fit perfectly let alone have the rips in the right place. These may fall perfectly on Miss Legs Eleven over on Asos, however it is likely that the rips would end up mid shin on me. 

So I got to thinking and decided why not give it a go myself? After doing a bit of research into it, I learned that the mass produced ripped jeans you can buy on the "high street" are actually created using a sandblaster (a machine designed to blast rust off of things using tiny particles of metal). Well I don't have one of those lying around..  I'll just have to make do. 

What I used:

• A pair of old jeans - avoid using elasticated denim as it just won't rip as well as the stiffer stuff. 
• chalk
• a scissors
• an artists blade or in my case a Stanley knife
• a tweezers
• a grater
• some cardboard

Now its time to DIY:

1. While wearing the jeans mark out the areas you want to rip with the chalk
2. After taking said jeans off, take the cardboard and put it in the leg holes under the area you want to rip. Taking the scissors make a little hole in the material.
3. Now using your artists blade carefully drag it along the the mark you made to make the initial slit.
4. Now taking the grater rough up the edges to give a sort of distressed look. I recommend using these side of the grater:
   
5. Once the edges are nicely roughed up and you're happy with them. Take your tweezers and pull some of the horizontal threads from both the top and bottom of the rip and pull them towards the centre. These will loosen the rip slightly and make it easier for you to bend your knee. 
6. Try the jeans on. See how they look, if they aren't distressed enough or need a little tweaking that can be done now. ( not while wearing them of course).

Here is my end result.. I'm easing myself into the trend with one ripped knee. If that goes well I may rip the other one.

If you are going to try it out whatever you do, don't rip a pair of expensive jeans. My jeans are just plain black ones from New Look. I think they cost about €19.00!? And they're perfect for it. I've about 10 pair of these bad boys - I just love them! They're the perfect fit for shorty mc short legs here. 

Happy DIYing.. I'm off to sit out in the sunshine comtemplating painting my bedroom some more!

Rebecca x

Ps: How NOT to rip jeans a la Kim Kardashian..