How-To Guide: Ripped Jeans

Side Note: I am so sorry that I have been incredibly rubbish at updating and instead of weekend posts you've been receiving them midweek, however I have recently began new things, starting my last year in full time education, finishing my A Levels as well as joining online courses and a lot of coursework that has kept me occupied at home. As of this it takes me so long to write posts as I'll spread my time out over a couple of days,  meaning that they have been posted midweek, so I just wanted to apologise for this after I promise weekend posts! 

On another note, I have started to DIY my own clothing after buying a cheap pair of ripped jeans, however they weren't really ripped, only scuffed. So i decided to research how to produce ripped jeans that looked like the jeans actually came like that. 

After looking at some online videos of how to rip your jeans, a lot of them were very complex and I didn't have the right resources, so I tried to "wing it", following steps partially but not fully. In the long run however, IT WAS A SUCCESS! So, as I've been such a terrible writer and haven't kept you up to date as much as I should've, I thought I'd show you my tips of how to make that perfect ripped jeans. (This picture was my Blue Peter moment; this is one I did earlier).

Step 1: Gather the right equipment

Usually, online tutorials will tell you to use some sand paper, a wooden block, probably a chainsaw and a screwdriver, but all you need for mine is a pair of scissors and some tweezers, it's that easy! If you want them to be extremely neat then you may opt for using a ruler and pencil to measure out where to cut.

Step 2: Make two slits where you want your rip to be, I put mine over the knee as it is a popular choice. Do this using your scissors, but don't cut a square, that's where everyone goes wrong! Keep the two lines parallel and separate.

Step 3: Using your tweezers, pull the vertical strands out of the fabric in between the two slits made. Make sure to get every one, avoiding the horizontal threads. Keeping these horizontal threads makes the look more "scruffy" yet professional. Some of the fluff may get stuck in between strands; just pull those out from the middle gently and it will clear. Do this through the whole of the section you've created through the two slits until the section is completely white horizontal strands.





Step 4; Use the scissors to neaten your edges slightly. As you can see I had a lot of horizontal lines breaking when doing this, so I used the scissors to cut a few off. Frays are good as it makes the tears look messy yet prepared, so keept a few. As well as this, use the scissors to cut a few horizontal lines, as it may look to neat if all are kept in tact. If you cut some of them out as well as cutting some only on one side it will produce the perfect rip.

And then you're finished! As easy as that you can make yourself some ripped jeans! Rips are popular with the likes of Kylie Jenner and Selena Gomez who have been spotted on several occasions sporting the rips, so it is bang on trend for these to be produced. AND ripped jeans have sometimes been known to be labelled at a higher price, so by purchasing some cheap jeans, you can transform them in to something fashion and celebrity chic.

Following other celebrity style rips, you can opt for;

'The Kim Kardashian' Rips

Literally just carry out the same course that you did for this tutorial, however cut all the white strands out. The look may be better if you carry on the idea of pulling out the vertical threads and then cutting the horizontal, rather than just box cutting as it would produce a nicer, more professional shape. This style of rip is great for showing off your legs without having to wear shorts, which could be seen as classier as you are not revealing too much.

'The Luke Hemmings' Rips

Luke Hemmings, from the teen pop-punk band, 5 Seconds of Summer, is known for his ripped knees in his jeans, as you can see here. He usually opts in a popular choice of jeans for both the full knees to be ripped without the fraying, which is more of a male rip. To carry this rip out, just make one incision line across the knee cap (or anywhere else you would like it) and then use the tweezers to fray out the edges. This means that no double horizontal lines would be used and would give you that messy, yet straight, line that Luke opts for. 

'The J-Lo' Rips

Jennifer Lopez seemed to opt for the style that I showed you in the tutorial, keeping her rips small in comparison to both Kim's and Luke's, also keeping the frays. This is a more casual style and, although all can be worn everyday, I believe that this style is more wearble than Kim's, as well as more feminine than Luke's. The rips on the boyfriend jeans seems to be a great look to go for, so if you decide on buying jeans, this rip style may look great with a pair of boyfriend or mom jeans.

[Photo credit to all those that own the photos; if you own any photos and wish to be credited or have them removed just email me! Sorry for any inconveniences!]

Question of the Day: What's your favourite ripped jeans style out of the three listed?