DIY ripped jeans

As promised, here comes last Friday's party outfit which was quite obviously inspired by Ann Demeulemeester's collections. I love how she plays with black and white every season, and still makes it look so fresh each time. This is something I have actually noted before but it's also a fact that agrees with the contents of my wardrobe, year after year.

The reason why I wanted to save this outfit for a separate post was because as you can see, I did a little extra slashing on my ripped jeans and wanted to share a tutorial on how to DIY. Ripping jeans is fairly easy but in order to get a nice frayed finish like on mine, it takes a little extra effort. Below the pictures is the tutorial on how I did it. Hope you like the results!

Top: MTWTFSS
Vest: Zara
Jeans: Cheap Monday
Sandals: Bronx
Bag: Vintage
Necklace: Ann Demeulemeester
Ring: Kalevala Koru

Ripped jeans - How to DIY with six easy steps

1. You will need: a pair of jeans, a marker or chalk, sandpaper and preferably a wooden plank.

2. Put your jeans on and mark the spots where you want the slashes to be made. You should at least mark the knee area because that will be hard to determine when the jeans are off your body. It's also good to keep in mind not to make the marks too high on the thigh area, unless you want your pockets to show through the slashes.

3. Take off the jeans and place them on the floor. If you have the wooden plank, place it inside the leg to provide support.

4. Fold the sandpaper in two and start sanding the jeans horizontally where you want the rips. When the jeans start to rip and a hole occurs, stop and rip the rest of the way with your hands. Be careful not to rip them all the way from seam to seam because the holes will enlarge in the wash. I made my cuts about 6-7 cm (= 2.5 inches) wide. (You can also sand the holes all the way through but that is rather time consuming. The reason why sandpaper is the best way to start the holes is for the frayed finish, scissors would result a much more cleaner cut which doesn't look as "authentic".)

5. After you are finished shake the lint off and wash your jeans. In order to get even more frayed look on the holes, you will need to wash the jeans in a washing machine. Using a dryer helps to bring out the frayness but it's not necessary.

6. Enjoy your ripped jeans!

DIY: Balmain inspired bleached jeans

For the past week I've been living in a chlorine infested apartment making experiements with jeans and bleach. I had to get myself a pair of bleach jeans due to Balmains spring/summer 2009 collection constantly burning in my mind. Originally I started with a pair of blue jeans but they got too white in the process so I had to change my plans and use a pair of black jeans instead (Balmain also did it). It took a few mess ups, swearing and sweating to get it right but now I'm extremely pleased with the outcome. May I introduce: my very own Balmain inspired bleached jeans with ripped knees (warning: a picture overload coming up!).

Wool vest: Pour
Long sleeve: Marlene Schön by Ellos
Jeans: Cheap Monday, bleach effect DIY
Shoes: Bullboxer
Ring: Kalevala Koru

The jeans are easy to transform from day to evening, as I wore the first outfit yesterday to meet up with the über stylish blogger Sugar Kane. We grabbed a cup of coffee and it seemed like the hours just flew by while talking about blogging, fashion and music. We seem to have very similar taste and views of life. In the evening I changed the outfit to be more suitable for going out, and combined the jeans with a wrinkled black tee (new from Stockholm!), studded belt and cuffs.

Tee: MTWTFSS
Jeans: Cheap Monday, bleach effect DIY
Blazer: H&M via my bf's closet
Shoes: Urban Originals
Cuffs and belt: Leather Heaven
Ring: Kalevala Koru

The original Balmain jeans are going for about 1400 Euros but bleached jeans are very easy to do at home, so I say save your pennies and DIY! For those who are interested, here is how I did it:

1. Get the materials: You will need a pair of jeans (mine were black), household bleach (chlorine), a spray bottle and rubber gloves.

2. Put on the rubber gloves and pour the cholrine into the spray bottle. If you want a more lighter effect, mix some water into the bleach. If you're looking for more stronger effect, you should get some stronger bleach than the household one (check the local hardware or pool supplies store).

3. Wet your jeans with water and place them on the floor. If you are not doing this on a tiled bathroom floor like I did, I recommend putting something underneath the jeans, ie. plastic wrapper or cardboard to avoid any bleach staining your floor.

4. Spray the chlorine on the desired spots. The stronger the bleach, the faster you can see the bleach results. The results on my jeans were visible in seconds. If you have mixed water in your bleach, be patient as the results might show about 20 minutes later. Spray more bleach to get a more stronger effect on the desired areas.

5. Wash your jeans. I washed mine first by hand and then put them in the washing machine.

You have to be very careful when handling the bleach because it will easily stain the clothes you are wearing. Even a drop of bleach can do damage, so I recommend not to wear your most expensive clothes while playing with bleach.

Edit: If you want to rip the knee area like I did, just get some really rough sandpaper and sand (rub) it on those areas you want the holes to appear. It's hard work but it pays off. :)

DIY Waxed jeans

Waxed/black coated jeans have been around for awhile, for example Acne and Dior Homme have made their own version of these jeans. I never owned a pair due to the fact that the price was ridiculously high and none of the waxed jeans fit me. My boyfriend on the other hand has had two pairs of Acne Hex Cash black coated jeans, and even though he hasn't ever washed them in a washing machine, the top coat has already totally worn out. I have always wondered how on earth they do that cool wax/black coat surface, so I really wanted to get into the bottom of this mystery. My boyfriend and I figured out that the paint Acne may use is acrylic paint, so we walked into the artist shop that was around the corner and did some shopping. What we found was black acrylic paint and some gloss to mix in with the paint. So, we took the stuff home and started painting the jeans with the mix and were pretty pleased with the outcome.

Here are detailed instructions on how to make your own waxed jeans, how much it costs, and what you will need. I will also reveal the results of this denim makeover (see the pictures). I chose to give the makeover to some old Cheap Mondays and my boyfriend did it to his worn out Acne's.

1. The jeans - Since the paint dries out really hard you should use jeans that have lost their form or are a size or two bigger than usual. Otherwise you may not fit in your jeans after the makeover.

2. The Paint - Get black (or whatever color) acrylic paint, a brush that's made for acrylic paint and if you want to add more shine to the look, get some soft gel gloss to mix in. You will also need a cup where you mix the paint and probably some cardboard to protect your floor. Art stores sell these supplies and are willing to help, just ask them. There are cheap and expensive paint options, depends how much you're willing to spend on your project. The black paint we purchased is called Wilson & Newton: Galleria Acrylic paint, 13€. The gloss was by Golden and it is called Gel Medium Soft Gel (Gloss), 10.70€. These were huge bottles, so we could do this operation about 10 times if we wanted to.

3. Mixing the paint - Mix about 80% acrylic paint and 20% of the gloss. If you want more shiny look, add more gloss. If you want to thin then paint, add water.

4. The Paint job - Place your jeans on the floor on top the protective cardboard (or plastic). Start painting the jeans with the paint brush. Use mild strokes along the lines of the denim. You can do as many layers as you want, if you feel that the jeans didn't get the result you wanted. My boyfriend did two layers, I did just one because I wanted a bit more rougher look. Acrylic paint dries really quickly, so you can do both sides in about one hour. After finishing both sides, let the jeans dry a few hours before trying them on, just to be sure.

My boyfriend working on his jeans.

5. Ta dah! - Now you got yourself some waxed jeans. Pullinging them on is like putting on jeans made out of paper, so be patient and careful. With heavy use the jeans will soften up and get more comfortable, trust me on this one.

6. Washing instructions - I don't recommend that you wash your jeans but if you absolutely must, do it in cold water without any soap. I'm warning you though, the color will bleed! If you can, take the jeans to a dry cleaner.

7. Flash your jeans - There you got yourself a cool new pair of waxed jeans. Go on and flash them!

Top: Poco Loco
Hooded vest: Two Percent 2%
Jeans: Cheap Monday, DYI wax coat
Shoes: Bullboxer