How to Turn Old Jeans Into Cutoff Shorts for the Summer

Let’s be honest; no summer wardrobe would be complete without some denim shorts. These bad boys not only look awesome, but they also go with anything. You can pair them with a slinky strap top, a floaty blouse, or even a bikini if you’re heading down the beach to catch some rays. If you don’t want to shell out a small fortune for store-bought denim jeans, though, you don’t have to worry. This is how you can turn your old jeans into cutoff shorts.

What You’ll Need

Before getting too scissor-happy and just chopping away at your old denim, you’ll need to ensure that you have the right materials at your disposal. You’ll need some good quality fabric scissors, a pair of old jeans (preferably non-stretch as this will help the shorts keep their shape), some chalk or something to mark your jeans, and some tweezers.

Getting Started

Once you have the materials, you’ll need to get started. This can be daunting, but to make things easier, chop off your jeans at the knee. Not only will this cut off the extra fabric, but it will also get you used to using the fabric scissors on the tough fabric. When you’ve done this, put the shorts on and mark on the material where you would like to cut them. To make them as flattering and as comfortable as possible, we’d recommend making the inseam longer than the sides. Then, take the shorts off and cut just below the lines that you’ve marked out.

The Final Touches

While you can leave your cutoff shorts like that, you could add some final touches if you wanted to. In fact, you can use the tweezers to add more frayed detail to the rough seam that runs along the bottom of the shorts and create even more distressed detail on the main pieces of fabric if you’d like.

Yes, it’s as easy as that.