How-Tuesday: Zigzag Shorts

Etsy.com handmade and vintage goods
julieincharge

Story by Julie Schneider

Published on June 14, 2011 in Make

When a heat wave rolls in, I find myself reaching for sandals, sun tea, and scissors for snipping old outfits into something more summery. For this week’s How-Tuesday, Etsy Admin Nicole Licht (a.k.a. yomissnicole) and her daughter Lucia (a.k.a. Luciaa) penned a post on transforming a pair of bland second-hand jeans into some rock star quality duds with a few household materials and some geometric ingenuity.

I love combing through my closet and drawers at the beginning of each new season. More often than not, potential springs forth in something once overlooked. For summer, my sweet teen, Lucia, and I worked together using thrifted jeans, masking tape, bleach and an old studded belt, to create some killer summer shorts. Super fun and super easy — rock on!

 

Supplies you’ll need:

  • Natural bristle paintbrush
  • Old jeans
  • Metal studs reclaimed from a studded leather belt
  • 2 cardboard rectangles cut the length and width of the legs of the shorts you’ll be cutting
  • 1” masking tape
  • 7 : 8  bleach to water solution

Directions:

1. Dig through your closest and find that pair of jeans that you’ve been thinking of cutting into shorts.

2. Cut them down to a bit longer than you might want them to be.

3. Using masking tape, create a zigzag pattern. Try and leave about 1” between each tape zigzag.

4. Insert cardboard into the shorts. This will keep the bleach from seeping though to the other side.

5. After laying the shorts flat in your bathtub, paint the bleach solution on the exposed jean zigzags. Let sit for about 15 minutes.

6. Remove cardboard inserts and rinse. After a few minutes, remove masking tape and finish rinsing out all bleach residues. Hang to dry.

7. Remove studs from an old belt, if you have one, making sure to bend prongs outward. (You can also use new metal studs.)

8. Lie out studs on jeans and poke the prongs through the fabric. Use pliers to bend back prongs and secure.

9. Try on your shorts and perfect the length. Trim away any additional inches.

If you make this project, share your results with us in the How-Tuesday Flickr group!

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