How to Make Ripped Jeans at Home: A Step-by-step Guide

Jeans are an essential part of a fashion lover’s daily wear. It is one of the cheapest and most stylish wear. Today, men and women are moving towards eco-friendly options, and denim is known as the most appropriate eco-friendly option.

Upcycling helps people get the latest jean style in their wardrobe and eliminates buying various jeans.

Ripped jeans are the most-loved pieces of clothing that nobody can ever get bored of. Ripped jeans have been around since the late 70s. It is pair of jeans that shows modern-day fashion and features frayed and ripped spaces at the knee area.

The issue with ripped jeans is that they are expensive, and most people can’t afford them. What if there is a way you can make ripped jeans at home with minimum effort and tools? Does it sound like a great deal? Just scroll more.

In this guide on “how to make ripped jeans,” we will cover everything you need to make stylish ripped jeans at home. 

Right from understanding the latest trends of ripped jeans to getting step-by-step instructions and how to maintain those jeans, this guide covers everything. Let’s get started.

What are Ripped Jeans?

Ripped jeans are just like your regular jeans with some rips, frays, scrapes, shreds, and fades to them. These jeans came into the fashion world a long time ago, but it has now taken over. 

How to make ripped jeans
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Different types of jeans, jackets, shorts and everything else can be ripped. These rips can happen when you overuse the jeans or create at home with DIY how to make rips in your jeans tutorial.

What are Distressed Jeans?

Torn, distressed, or ripped—one way or another, they are all the same. If you have darker shade jeans, bleach them or sandpaper them to fade the color. This makes it distressed jeans.

We are the generation who pay for stuff like this. Do not fall into this trap. If you want to learn to sew ripped jeans at home, then this guide is for you. Keep reading!

Why Should I Rip My Jeans?

Wearing ripped jeans is a personal choice. Some of the distressing and rips have been trending in the fashion world for years and years. 

How to make holes in jeans
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Adding ripped jeans to your wardrobe can help you look cool and stylish. Shreds and rips add attitude and tell a unique story about its creation.

5 Ways on “How to Make Your Own Ripped Jeans”?

Ripped jeans are the close-cousin of distressed jeans. It became popular in the 70s when the Punk-rock moment was unraveling across the globe. 

How to make holes in your jeans
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A large part of the youth felt disconnected from society, and that’s when Denim became their best friend. In Britain, popular bands like Sex Pistols won the cause of denim. 

They started adoring denim in jeans, jackets, pants and dressed them with safety pins, batches, and buttons. Torn or distressed jeans are known for hippie and dissent culture.

Here are some common ways you can opt for “how to make your own ripped jeans” at home:

Remove the Threads

Different types of clothes are made up of horizontal and vertical threads, and so are jeans. It has white horizontal and blue vertical threads. 

How to make your own ripped jeans
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To get a distressed or ripped look, all you need to do is to start tweezing out the blue vertical threads. Once you begin tweezing the threads, they will loosen up and become easier. 

If you are a beginner and learning how to sew guides, it might be difficult for you to remove the first thread.

Fray the Edges

Want more fun? Try fraying the edges to distress your jeans. If you’re someone who doesn’t experiment with her clothes more often, then this is the right time to do it. 

Cut the end of your shorts or jeans, and start removing threads using a tweezer. A razor or sandpaper can be used to scrape the edges.

Make Holes

Making small or big holes in distressed jeans is in vogue now. Here are some of the ways you learn “how to make holes in your jeans.”

How to make holes in your jeans tutorial
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Big threaded holes (Cut and pluck for big threaded holes)

For not so subtle ripping or distressing, follow these simple steps:

    • Cut horizontal strips with 0.5 inches.
    • Make the strip similar to the hole size.
    • Use pair of tweezers and pluck all blue threads from the strips. Remember, vertical threads are blue threads, and white threads are placed in a horizontal way.
    • When you remove the blue threads, you will get the horizontal white threaded look.

Small, lived in holes

If you are just finding out “how to make holes in jeans” using simple tools, then this is for you. Bobby pins are one of the best tools for making small holes in jeans. 

Use a bobby pin with a blunt metal edge to scrape the denim and create small holes.

Scrape or Bleach Off

Scrapping or bleaching the jeans is one of the easiest ways to get a distressed look. This combination of methods adds a subtle touch to your jeans. 

For a faded look, add bleach or sandpaper, or take a pumice stone. Start scrapping off the part of your jeans where you want a faded look.

Fray the Pockets

Distressed jeans
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Frayed pockets are another exciting way to make distressing jeans. Just remove the upper layer of the pocket, and don’t dig more. 

Use a razor or sandpaper to scrape the surface, or you can remove threads with tweezers. Add extra spunk and make your jeans look cooler with frayed pockets.

How to Make Ripped Jeans at Home – Step by Step Tutorial

All jeans are rip-able, but regular jeans are easier to rip than stretchable jeans. Before you proceed with “how to make your own rips in jeans,” make sure you are prepared for the iterative process. It’s best to decide the types of rips you want and try them on rough/cheap fabric.

Wondering how to make ripped jeans at home? It is no rocket science. With minimum stuff at home, you can get stylish and trendy ripped jeans. You just need proper planning, patience, and practice and practice.

Here’s a step by step guide that outlines how to make ripped jeans or how to make holey jeans at home:

How to make ripped jeans at home
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Choose Your Favorite Jeans

If you’re a beginner and just trying your hands-on “how to make clothes,” it is recommended that you find jeans in your closet which can be cut into shorts or don’t mind if it goes wrong. 

Before starting the entire process, just think of a pair of jeans you want to rip. Tight, skinny, or boyfriend jeans? Black, blue, white? Anything will work.

Bonus tip: If you want your jeans to look extra-warm, then wash them two to three times in hot water.

Gather All the Supplies You Will Need

It takes a lot to distress your jeans before you start making small or big holes. You will need to gather some supplies to make your ripped jeans DIY project a success. 

How to make slits in jeans
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Grab the below-listed supplies so that you don’t need to run to the store mid-way and get distracted:

    • For “how to make your own holes in jeans,”: Utility cutter knife or different types of fabric scissors.
    • For scraps and frays: Scissors or razor
    • For removing threads: Tweezers
    • For marking: Tailor’s chalk, marker, or just a pen
    • For a distressed look: Sandpaper or pumice stone

Start Making Rips or Distress Them

This is the most crucial step of distressing jeans, and if you don’t get proper guidance, then you might screw it up. 

First, decide what you want to do with your jeans and lay the jeans on your table or floor. Start rubbing your jeans and then mark at the appropriate place. 

Make sure you use a pen, safety pin, or chalk to show where and how to make big rips in jeans. You may need a ruler for the measurement.

Start Ripping

How to make cuts in jeans? At this point, you have marked areas where you need to make rips. Start ripping the marked area with steel wool, sandpaper, and the pumice stone until the jeans look worn. The key here is to do it in a horizontal way. 

Once you start ripping, you will see the white horizontal threads at the denim’s surface. At this point, you can use a tweezer tool to fray the threads. The time it takes to complete this step depends on the thickness of the jeans.

Here are different washes and thicknesses of denim:

Denim Types (Washes) Thickness (Inches)
Raw 0.053
Medium 0.050
Light 0.046

How to make holey jeans
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If you know how to make a hole in jeans look good around the butt area or in the knee, then tape sandpaper to the floor, put your jeans, and slide around on the sandpaper.

Finishing Touches

This is the final stage of how to make ripped jeans. Ensure the rips are not sloppy and the finished product looks amazing. Just grab super easy and super custom woven labels and hang tags from Superlabel Store and personalize your DIY project. All set now.

How to Make Slits in Your Jeans at the End

Found your perfect jeans but don’t know how to make slits in your jeans? Then this section is for you.

Jeans are manufactured in different styles, including wide legs or “boot cut.” When you go out to buy your favorite pair of jeans, they should fit your boots. You should be able to style your jeans with any type of boots or shoes.

How to make cuts in jeans
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Wondering how to make slits in jeans to accommodate boots or bell-bottom style? It will require you to use all your sewing skills, widen your jeans’ bottom, and achieve your desired results.  Here’s a step-by-step instruction to make slits at the bottom of your jeans.

Determine How Wide You Want the Bell to Be

The first step is to decide how wide you want the bell to be. Make sure the bottom of each leg should not extend more than one inch.

Choose Your Insert Material

Make sure you insert fabric close to the weight of the jeans fabric. Choose a patterned or alternate color fabric for the insertion.

Start Cutting Openings

Begin from the bottom of the leg on each side 1-inch line behind and use seams on each leg. You need to sew the top of these slits and add the insert or gusset. 

Use a seam ripper to open the leg hem at several inches. Start sewing this back when you hem edges of the gusset.

Measure Your Opening

Use a measuring tape to mark the openings and transfer them to gusset material.

Cutting Lines

Fold two gusset pieces in half and mark your cutting lines in a diagonal way and the backside of the material. Drawing on the wrong side will hide the finished cuts. 

DIY distressed ripped jeans
Image Source: Meghan Smolka

A washable marker or crayon can be used to mark the seams. Cutting both sides of a triangle gusset will keep them symmetrical. 

The main reason for working on two pieces is to ensure that the gussets match in both size and shape. Turn your jeans inside out and pin gussets edges to the raw edges of the slit legs along with the right side.

Stitch the Edges and Seams

At this stage, you need to stitch together the edges of the pinned gussets. Use some seam allowance for the best results and press it away from the gussets.

Final Step

In this last step, you need to turn the pant’s right side out and start stitching the seams. You may require to backstitch many times to prevent unraveling later on.

Roll the hems together and start stitching the hemline. You are all set! Just turn your pants on the front side and repeat the steps for another leg.

Prevent Your Ripped Jeans From Damage: How to Make Ripped Jeans at Home

As you wear ripped jeans on a regular basis, the rips will become larger based on the placement of the rips. They will also become larger through the wash.

This section of “how to make ripped jeans” at home is all about preventing the jeans from damage. It covers some tips and tricks that will help you keep your favorite DIY ripped jeans project for a long time.

Turn Them Inside Out When Washing

This is the essential tip for preventing ripped or distressed jeans from damage. Many people make the mistake of washing ripped jeans just like any other clothes. 

This should not be done when washing distressed jeans. These jeans have areas where the fabric is torn or tattered. 

When you turn your ripped jeans inside out, then it will get less damage in the washing machine. Just take one minute and turn your jeans inside out.

Don’t Wash It on a Regular Basis

You don’t need to wash your ripped jeans every time you wear them. Distressed jeans are more susceptible to damage than any other regular jeans. 

Ripped jeans tutorial
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If you wash it many times, you will notice rips and tears in the jeans. The hard work you put in while reading “how to make extreme ripped jeans” will all goes wrong when you wash ripped jeans on a frequent basis.

Wash With Similar Colors

It is recommended to wash distressed or ripped jeans with a similar color. When you wash it with similar-colored clothes, you can rest assured that it won’t absorb other garments’ colors.

Use a Dryer Sheet to Remove Static Cling

Distressed jeans are more prone to develop static clings. When there is less moisture vapor in the air, your distressed jeans or ripped jeans can develop static clings. A dryer sheet can be used to remove static cling within a minute from ripped jeans.

Don’t Forget to Read the Fabric Care Labels

The denim fabric you use for “how to make holy jeans at home” comes with care labels. So, make sure you read the instructions, as many denim materials require special care and attention to maintain the quality.

Conclusion

Distressed or ripped jeans offer a fun and unique style that many youngsters prefer. These jeans are comfy and get you a cool look. Making ripped jeans at home will be a fun DIY fashion project for you.

The above-listed information will help you understand everything you need to make stylish ripped jeans at home with minimum supplies.

So, what are you waiting for? Just grab your essentials, your favorite jeans, and start making stylish ripped jeans. Use super easy, super custom woven labels and hang tags from Super label store to personalize your own sewing project.