DIY American Flag Denim Jean Shorts

Hey guys,

I've been doing some sorting out and getting rid of unwanted clothes and came across some old pair of denim shorts that I've never worn. I bought them a while back in the sale for £1 from Primark but they weren't my kind of style, so I looked for inspiration on how to change them. I came across Denim with lace, floral inserts and tie dye effects and then came across these.

American flag shorts.

So this was it, exactly what I was looking for.
So with my shorts and vision i started a project that would take me about 2 hours, 5 if you include the wash and dry.

What I used
Household bleach
Sponge i used two, one for the star and one to do the stripes.FYI rubber stamp may be better as the sponge can make the bleach spread if you press too hard.
Scissors
Stanley knife
Cardboard
Tape
Sandpaper

Step 1. Draw a star on a sponge and carve out surrounding sponge till you have the shape of star.

This is mine with a bit of bleach on, a stamp may have been better but i used what i had which was cheap sponge scourers from Tesco for 14p.

Step 2.
Mask out lines

Make your lines with tape, i used white electricians tape but any tape will do as long as its not too thin or too thick. Place cardboard inbetween shorts so the bleach doesn't spread through.

Step 3.
Poor about 5-10 ml of bleach in a small wide container so you can easily apply bleach to sponge. Then start dabbing it on the lines of fabric you have with the tape either side making sure not to go under the tape. Then using the Star Sponge do the opposite side making sure to press gently, it should be invisible as if not it will spread as you have to much bleach on the sponge. Tip: Practice on old fabric till you get the hang of it.

It should look like this, the longer you leave it the brighter the stars and stripes will be, you can always add another coat of bleach to the stripes if you want them lighter, i did.
Step 4.

Once Dry i removed the tape and cut off the hem of my shorts then put them in the washer/dryer.

This is how they turned out, you can leave it at this stage but i wanted mine to look a bit more rough so i added a few rips.
Step 5.(optional)
I took my Stanley knife and using thick card behind, as to not go all the way through to the other side i made small horizontal incisions.

I then pulled the fabric in between to expose the vertical white lines underneath, removing the blue(messy).

They ended up looking like this. I did the effect to both the back pockets and the front pockets and a few random places.

This is the finished look,

BEFORE>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

AFTER>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

:)

A fun cheap way to repurpose your clothes using ordinary household products, what could be better?

XOXO