How to make denim cut off shorts

I am not going to wear denim cut-off shorts. The look fabulous on supermodels. I just don’t want to

Denim shorts

wear them.

Admittedly I am a lot older than girls who look fabulous in them. And I’m not super slim, But even when I was younger or thinner, I never liked showing too much skin. These shorts are my compromise. Admittedly a big compromise on denim cut offs but I’m happy in them.

Now those brave and gorgeous girls who can and want to go shorter, just cut off more leg. Easy as that.

Before – boot cut jeans

My mother came to visit over the holidays with a suitcase full of clothes she picked up when a friend of a friend’s daughter emigrated to Australia. This girl was small and none of the clothing would fit my mothers friends. I could barely fit into her clothes myself. My daughter did well out of that suitcase. I kept this pair of jeans.

Mark where to cut off the legs

I’m over boot cut jeans. It was a no brainer I would up-cycle these. I wanted a nice pair of shorts for our boat. Read about that – here.

Pin and sew hem. Or not if you prefer

This process is so super easy. No need for instructions. Fit jeans. Decide where you want hem. Cut making sure to leave enough fabric to make hem. Make hem. Wear. You may have to zig-zag or overlock the edges as denim is inclined to fray. Or leave the edges raw.

The point of this is that before you toss something, consider altering it into something you would wear. Someone with sewing skills could have sewed the lower leg pieces onto the legs and made a skirt? There are heaps of jean and denim refashions on the Internet for inspiration.

Visit the Greenie Galleries at the top of this page to see older DIYs. I’ve shared myriad fashion upgrades from FREE sewing patterns to tutorials for making jewelry from food packaging.

As always, I try to up-cycle or recycle.

I will be back with more next week,