How to Distress Blue Jeans

Many fashion enthusiasts spend lots of time and attention on keeping clothes looking fresh and new. When it comes to denim, though, the fashion-conscious will go to great lengths to use and abuse their jeans to achieve the perfect level of wear and tear. Distressing jeans the regular way, by wearing and washing them until they become frayed and worn, may take ages. But you can speed up this process by scrubbing, sanding and bleaching your jeans until they capture the faded tint of vintage chic.

Instructions

1

Spread a drop cloth over your work area.

2

Place the boards inside of the legs of your jeans. This will give you a sturdy work surface while sanding, and it keeps bleach from seeping through both sides of your denim.

3

Put on the rubber gloves and fill the small bucket with bleach.

4

Place the sponge in the bucket of bleach. Squeeze the sponge to remove excess bleach.

5

Press the sponge along the center of the legs on your jeans. Apply added pressure at the front of the knees and the hip area to suggest wear.

6

Rub the sponge over the edges of the cuffs.

7

Repeat this process on the back of the jeans.

8

Remove the jeans from the boards. Wash and dry the denim in a washing machine and dryer. Clean any bleach spills from your drop cloth.

9

Place the boards back inside the legs of the jeans.

10

Use the sandpaper to add distress to the knees and the thighs of the jeans on the front and the back. Rub these areas in a circular motion, applying pressure to the sandpaper.

11

Rub the cuffs of the jeans with sandpaper.

12

Create a third layer of distress on the cuffs and the knees by rubbing this area with the pumice stone.

13

Wash and dry the jeans again in the washer and dryer.

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