MAKE IT CUTE

Spring's on the horizon, so it's time to spice up your wardrobe. But it's not warm enough for shorts just yet, so what's a girl to do? Transform your winter jeans into fresh fashion, of course! Just 'cause jeans are universally loved, doesn't mean your jeans have to be universal. So cut 'em, draw on 'em or sew 'em—whatever makes your pants say Y-O-U.

Glitz for the Glamazon

If you love all things sparkly and colorful, then you’ve just gotta add some shine to your jeans. So head down to the craft store and pick out rhinestones in colors that’ll match a lot of your tops. Then grab your hot glue gun and get creative, girlie. Once you’ve decided where on your jeans you want the jewels, just put a little dot of glue on the back of each gem. Then you can carefully place them on your denim using either your finger or some tweezers. Just be sure to give those sparklers some time to dry before you try on your new and improved bottoms.

Patches for the Sweetie

Goin’ for a vintage or boho look to fit your style? Then find some cute fabric and cut it into patches for your jeans. Remember that you can be as creative as you want—no one said you have to stick to squares. Cut out hearts, triangles, circles, stars, whatever. Also, decide if you wanna leave your edges open to fraying. If not, make sure to fold ‘em in twice before you start sewing. Then put a thin coating of fabric glue on the back of your patches, and stick ‘em in place. You can either finish by hand-sewing the edges or by using the zigzag stitch on a sewing machine.

Rips for the Edgy Babe

Lots of jeans come pre-ripped, but isn’t it more fun to choose exactly what yours are gonna look like? That way, you control the boldness and can make your jeans as edgy as you want. First, place a block of wood inside the pants leg and underneath the area where you wanna put a rip. Then, scrape a utility knife horizontally to loosen the fibers and, if that’s not enough of a tear, you can cut the hole a little larger with some scissors. Make sure you always hold the utility knife with the blade down toward the table, and don’t cut toward yourself. And remember that any fraying and tearing you do is gonna get worse with each trip through the wash, so don’t overdo it.

Doodles for the Artist

The margins of your notebooks are filled with scribbles and cartoons. So are the covers of your binders, your pencil case and your tennies. Well, it’s time to move on to bigger and better things, babe. Grab a sharpie—or a few!—and make your jeans into a masterpiece.

Bleach for the Thrill-Seeker

If you’re sporty and adventurous, you’ve gotta make your jeans show it. And bleach is just the way to do that. First off, you have to be ready to get down and dirty, so wear some old clothes that you don't mind destroying. Lay your jeans out on an old sheet or on some newspaper outside. Then mix up a solution of 1/3 bleach and 2/3 water in a squirt bottle, and use that to make patterns on your jeans. Leave the finished product out for a few hours ‘til it dries—and be careful to wash the jeans alone from now on.

How are you transforming your denims for the new season?

by Carrie Ruppert | 3/15/2016