I started with a pair of A&F jeans that I thrifted for $4 from Goodwill, which were my size and had a nice worn in feel to them. (Since these were a flare leg, I first turned them inside out, pinned while on, and sewed the legs from around the knees down to a skinny taper. Then, I trimmed the excess seam allowance and turned them right side out again.)
TIP: It's important to buy light washed jeans. Holes on dark washed jeans just don't look quite as believable.
To begin distressing: Cut two parallel lines running across the leg as large as you want. With a tweezer, pull the vertical threads out one at a time. At the beginning, it helps to loosen the fabric edges with something rough before starting to pull.
The vertical threads in denim are a mixture of blue whereas the horizontal threads are all white. I didn't want to expose the white threads completely since the distressing would fall apart more easily with wash and wear, so I varied the rows that I pulled, pulling less around the ends of the holes. I used pinking shears (but you can use something else abrasive like sand paper) to fade out around the holes, make them blend in better and look more naturally torn.
Repeat as many times/wherever on the jeans you'd like. I put two small holes at the hip and one large complete cut on the opposite knee.
Lastly, I cheated a bit and dabbed Fray-Check glue on the corners to prevent further pulling and fraying.
(Sandals - Report)
Taken from my new apartment at school! It's going to be crazy so... updates will be much less frequent.
