Photo: courtesy of VintageDenimCompany on Etsy

It seems like lately every store you enter is selling embellished or altered high-waisted denim cutoff shorts.  This denim trend has absolutely taken over casual summer style and the look never fails to look cool.  While making a pair of DIY denim shorts from an old pair of jeans is an easy trick, we’ve got a tutorial that will help you take your jorts to the next level.  Check out these EG tips on how to create your very own destroyed ombre dyed denim shorts. The first trick to making your DIY denim shorts look store bought is of course to totally destroy them!  This can easily be done with an xacto knife, some tweezers, sandpaper and a lot of patience. To get that look where threads are exposed going in only one direction follow these steps:

1. Make 2 parallel slits in your denim going horizontally with your xacto knife.

Photo: courtesy of Xacto Gripster Craft Knife, $5.

2. With your tweezers, start pulling out all of the pieces of fabric running vertically leaving behind only the strings running from left to right.

Photo: courtesy of Sephora Anastasia Tweezer, $28.

3. Rub the edges of the rip with sandpaper for that perfectly destroyed look you’d otherwise be paying for in stores.


Next, to create the ombre effect you’ll need a bucket and some powder or liquid fabric dye in any color you like, we think pink turns out great!

1. Follow the instructions on the back of your dye and fill your bucket with a little less than the suggested amount of water, then add about one third of the fabric dye into the water.




Photo: courtesy of I've Got a Notion

Rit Dye Powder in Rose Pink, $2.

2. Dip your shorts into the mixture about halfway and let them sit for 20 minutes.

3. Next, pull your shorts out of the water so that one third of the previously dipped part of denim is now out of the dye and water mixture.  Add another third of the dye to the water. Let the bottom 2/3 of the dyed part sit in the darker water for another 20 minutes.

4. Finally, pull out your shorts so that only the tips of them are now in the solution and add the remaining dye into the water.  Let them sit for another 20 minutes.

5. Rinse out your shorts, let them dry and you’re done! The result will be some extremely cool ombre dyed denim shorts that will fade from a dark shade of magenta at the bottom to a barely there tickled hue on top before fading into a normal denim color.