How to Fray the Bottom of Jeans in 7 Easy Steps
Frayed jeans are really in right now, and they’re such a versatile piece of clothing in your wardrobe.
You can wear long, baggy frayed jeans with sneakers and a hoodie or slim-fit frayed jeans with a pair of high heels, a ruffled shirt, and a form-fitted blazer. You can even wear frayed jean shorts with sandals and a cute tank top or a frayed jean skirt with wedges and a tucked-in t-shirt.
No matter which way you choose to style your frayed jeans, you can create a very cool and complementary look with many of the clothing items and accessories you already have at home.
And that’s a good thing because many of the frayed jeans you’ll find on the market today are quite pricey!
Thankfully, you can fray the bottom of jeans at home in a matter of minutes. And it won’t cost you a thing. It really is as simple as picking the pair of jeans you want to fray and gathering a few tools you already have at home.
So, pull out a pair of new jeans, old jeans, baggy jeans, or tight jeans, and we’ll show you how to fray the bottom of jeans so easily you have to see it to believe it.
How to prep jeans for fraying
To easily fray jeans, you want to start out by washing them first. Clean jeans fray far easier than jeans that have been worn a few times because the fabric is a lot softer right after a wash, making it so that you can separate the fibers without a lot of extra effort.
Once they’re clean and dry, it’s time to try them on and determine how long you want your jeans to be once they’re frayed. And the simplest way to do that is to look in a full-length mirror while you’re wearing them.
Just remember, you’ll want to mark and cut your jeans slightly longer than you anticipate because they’ll end up shorter than you expect after you fray the ends of your jeans.
Now that you’ve determined the perfect length for you, you’ll want to mark your jeans in some way so that you know exactly where to cut them. The simplest way to do this is to use a fabric marker, a piece of chalk, or a pencil. Simply lean down and make your mark.
Then change back out of them then gather all of the tools you need to fray your jeans at the bottom.
How to fray the bottom of jeans
How do you fray the bottom of jeans at home? Simple! Gather the following tools, and we’ll show you how to fray jeans on your own in just a few quick steps.
Notice that most of the items listed below are optional which means that you can easily get away with fraying your jeans with only three ordinary tools. It really doesn’t take much to upgrade the jeans in your closet.
Tools and materials needed:
- Fabric marker, chalk, or pencil
- Scissors
- Fabric tape measure
- Tweezer (optional)
- Razor (optional)
- Cheese grater (optional)
- Sandpaper (optional)
Photo from The DIY Designer. Check out her tutorial on How to Fray Jeans in 7 Different Ways. Follow her on YouTube: The DIY Designer.
1. Lay the jeans down
Once you’ve prepared your jeans, it’s time to start cutting and fraying. To make sure you have a straight line, lay your jeans down on a flat surface button side up and legs spaced slightly apart.
2. Line up cuffs
Next, line up the top and bottom cuffs on each leg separately so that they’re laying perfectly on top of one another. This ensures that you will cut a straight line and not have any uneven edges on either leg.
3. Measure the length
Then, use your fabric tape measure to determine the length between the bottom part of your hem and the mark you made on your jeans during the preparation stage.
4. Mark the cutting line
Now that you’ve determined the length of your first mark, use the fabric tape measure to mark the same length on both the right and left sides of each leg near the seam.
Then, draw a straight line through all of the marks so that you know exactly where to make your cut. Repeat this step on the other leg of your jeans as well.
Tip: Make sure your line is at the same length on both legs of your jeans. You definitely don’t want one leg shorter than the other. And you won’t be happy to discover this after you’ve already made your cuts.
5. Make straight cuts
Using a sharp pair of scissors, make a straight cut through the line you drew in the previous step. Then, cut through the line on the other leg of your jeans as well.
Tip: As you’re making each cut individually, be sure to hold both sides of a leg together and taut so that you remove the entire hem of a pant leg in one shot.
6. Fray bottom of jeans
Once both legs are cut to the same length, it’s time to fray the bottom of your jeans.
You can do this by opening the scissors all the way up and rubbing the sharp blade against the grain of the fabric. This will cause the threads of your jeans to loosen and fray.
Photo from The DIY Designer. Check out her tutorial on How to Fray Jeans in 7 Different Ways. Follow her on YouTube: The DIY Designer.
Continue fraying the bottom of each side of your pant leg until you have the results you’re looking for. Then, start fraying the bottom of your other pant leg.
Tip: There are several alternate ways to fray your jeans. Instead of using the blade of your scissors, you could also use tweezers to grasp and pull the threads apart or even a razor, a cheese grater, or sandpaper to distress the bottom of your jeans and fray them.
7. Wash and dry
The last step is to wash and dry your jeans again before wearing them. This allows any loose strings to fall off. It also softens and fluffs up the frayed edge of your jeans so that they look amazing when you wear them.
Tip: The best way to dry your jeans is to air dry them or tumble dry them on the lowest heat setting.
Photo from The DIY Designer. Check out her tutorial on How to Fray Jeans in 7 Different Ways. Follow her on YouTube: The DIY Designer.
How to fray the bottom of jeans
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