Turn an Old Pair of Jeans Into Shorts for the Summer

My mom was searching through her closet and she recently pulled out a pair of old jeans that she wanted me to transform into a pair of shorts for the summer. So, I decided to take the jeans and put a little bit of vintage, 70s-inspired magic for her!

Step 1: Materials

Here's what you will need:

an old pair of jeans
fabric paints (you can use regular fabric paint or 3D puff paints)
ribbon
sewing machine
scissors

Step 2: Prep Pants

First, measure out where you want to cut the legs off with a marker. Then, take the scissors to them, so you will them have "a pair of shorts".

Step 3: Hem

From there, take the shorts to your sewing machine, and sew a hem on the cuffs. I prefer using a straight stitch on a 3 or 4, when hemming a pair of jeans, pants or shorts.

Step 4: Sewing Ribbon

Next, cut two pieces of ribbon that are slightly larger than the circumference of the short cuffs. Then, sew them together. Then, sew the ribbon to each cuff, making sure to back-stitch in place.

Step 5: Make Fringe

Now, grab your scissors and cut through the ribbon and cuff, then fluff to make vintage styled fringe.

Step 6: Paint

Finally, you can paint the pants with whatever design you want. Just a hint of what's to come, I painted a 70 on the top right hand corner of the shorts to represent the year both my mom and dad met: 1970. Then, what you will see in the final few shots, I painted a small paisley design on the side of the left leg of the shorts.