If you like the style of jeans ruined by normal wear, but you don't want to wait for your jeans to deteriorate over time, the ideal solution for you could be to stretch them. By untangling the jeans, you deliberately wear them and strip the threads from the weave to achieve that typical worn look. Jeans with stretch marks are popular thanks to streetwear and punk fashion. Using the right technique and the right tools, you can customize your jeans with a little effort.
Steps
Part 1 of 2: Designing and Ruining Jeans
Step 1. Choose the pair of jeans you want to make the stretch mark on
Choose the jeans to ruin. If this is your first time changing a garment, use cheaper jeans that you don't mind shredding. If you don't have cheap jeans, you can go to a thrift store to buy a cheap pair.
- Stretch jeans are best for this purpose;
- Get a pair of skinny jeans for a sensual look;
- Get a pair of baggy jeans if you are looking for a "tomboy" look.
Step 2. Rub sandpaper or a pumice stone on the stretch mark area
This operation will ruin the area so as to give it a natural wearing effect. Place the pumice stone or sandpaper at the point you want to stretch and rub it horizontally across the jeans. This operation breaks up the vertical threads, the blue ones, giving your jeans the worn look.
Use 220 or higher grit sandpaper
Step 3. Mark the area where you want to create the stretch mark
Traditionally, jeans are ripped at the knees. Put on your jeans and use white chalk to draw horizontal lines of 5-10cm across the affected areas. The stretch mark will occupy the area between these two marks.
- Decide if you want the stretch mark to be above or below the knee, or to cover it entirely.
- You can also choose to stretch other parts of the jeans, including the back pockets and side seams.
- If so, the chalk line on the back pockets should be 5cm or less, and the chalk line on the side seam should be 1.3cm or less.
- Decide how many stretch marks you want to create and how big you want them to be.
Part 2 of 2: Making the Stretch Mark
Step 1. Insert a magazine or cardboard into the leg of the jeans you are working on
Cardboard or magazine will prevent you from cutting the back of the jeans.
Step 2. Make two cuts
Fold the jeans vertically in correspondence with the marks you made with chalk and with scissors cut the drawn line. Above, make another identical cut, about 2.5 cm apart, that is parallel to the cut you just created. You can use a razor blade or utility knife, being careful to cut the lines as long as there is magazine or cardboard under the blade.
Step 3. Take the bottom page and pull the blue threads
Reverse the flap created by the two cuts so that you are looking at the inside of the jeans. The blue threads that run vertically through the inside of the trousers make up the warp. Remove them with tweezers until only the white threads remain.
- The horizontal white threads constitute the weft and must be left intact, in order to create the stretch mark.
- If you tear small areas of the jeans, such as the side seams or back pockets, leave a space of 1.30 cm between the first cut and the next, instead of 2.5 cm.
Step 4. Continue to remove the blue threads until the entire area of the stretch mark is unstitched
Keep pulling them off until only the white threads remain. Once finished, you can repeat the process to unravel other areas of the jeans.
If you want to stretch stretch marks, you can also remove some white threads
Step 5. Continue making stretch marks until you have achieved the desired result
Repeat the steps on the other areas of the jeans you want to stretch. Once you have unstitched all the different areas, you will have your own ripped jeans.
