My DIY Denim Shorts

One of my favourite things to do on my clothes is DIY. I’m often adjusting clothes to make them more suited to me, be it swapping buttons on a cardigan, adding crystals to things, cutting things up or making my own jewellery etc. I love customizing and making. The thing I love to do most though is make denim shorts. I thought I would put a post together on a pair I made most recently from an old pair of Rock & Republic jeans. I’ve included lots of photos and information on the steps in this post.

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Take an old pair of jeans that you know you will no longer wear, or a pair that are really damaged from the knees down and use those for your new shorts. In this case I chose a pair of Rock & Republic Uraniam Roths 🙂

Carefully cut a slightly diagonal line across at the desired length (a little longer if you want a cuff). Definitely use a bigger pair of jeans if you are cuffing them because the cuff makes the leg opening very tight.

Fold the jeans exactly in half so the waist band aligns perfectly at the top and the crotch is in the correct position. Then cut the other leg exactly the same as you cut the first one. The folding helps you get the length right because it shows exactly where you cut.

This is how your jeans/new shorts will end up after the cutting.

If you cuff the bottoms, you will need to fold the hem once and then once again so the turn up will stay in place. I think they look really cute with the turn ups but unfortunately these jeans were the perfect fit so the leg opening was much too small to be kept cuffed.

If you don’t want a cuff, you can cut the jeans much shorter, like the above photos. This is a lot better if your jeans are tight fitting because the leg opening will fit well. It’s best to try on the new shorts first to know exactly how short you want them. You don’t want to make them too short. I always find it works better to cut the front of the leg shorter than the back of the leg as you do need the back a bit longer than the front to cover your assets 🙂

This is a pair that I cut into shorts over a year ago. An old pair of Diesel Matic 81M jeans which I think are amazingly flattering on the butt so I wanted to be able to wear them during the hot weather and keep a pair of full length for the colder weather.

And voila, here are the finished products. The Diesel shorts are definitely a lot shorter than the more recent ones I made. It’s always nice to have different lengths! I love denim shorts, they are one of my favourite things to wear for Summer! They are so cute!