Jeans to Coral Skinnies // DIY

Sorry I didn't post a Mid-Week Sneak Peek this past Wednesday, it was the first day of classes and this week has been quite crazy with all the various Welcome Week activities.

Now on to the tutorial for this week!

I've been loving the brightly colored skinny jean trend lately, but as usual, I don't love the price tag. So, I decided to DIY it for a much more affordable price!

They turned out so well! Take a look!

This is what they looked like before, during, and after:

Don't they look great?

Want to know how I did it?

Click "Read More" below to view the instructions!

Here's what you'll need:

-old jeans to refashion (I got mine at Goodwill!)

-Rit dye

-old plastic tub or bucket to dye in

-gloves

-bleach

-sewing machine

Here's what you'll do:

**The first 3 steps involve altering the jeans to make them skinny jeans since mine originally weren't. If your jeans are already skinny and fit perfectly, congratulations! Skip these first 3 steps.

1. Try on your jeans! Mark where you want to sew to make them skinny. Another way to do this is to take a pair of skinny jeans that already fit you, lay them on top of your jeans that you will be refashioning, and mark where you need to sew. Be sure to include seam allowance! This is what my jeans looked like before:

Side note: My shirt says "The one night stand your mom will approve of." What does that mean, you ask? I'm on the planning committee for Ohio State's Relay for Life event and we made these t-shirts to make people do double takes. Relay for Life is an all night event, hence the "one night stand." People look at me so strange when I wear it, but I love that! It's a great conversation starter about the Relay for Life and what we do. But, I digress.

2. Pin and sew your jeans. Try them back on to make sure they are the right amount of skinny!

3. Mine also needed hemming (the lovely perks of being short-statured). Fold under, pin, and sew to the correct length.

4. Now onto the bleaching and dying! First, we will bleach the jeans to make them a lighter color. Combine a few cups of bleach to a few gallons of water in an old plastic tub or bucket. Put the jeans in the bucket, make sure they are completely covered, and let soak.

It took my jeans THREE DAYS to get completely bleached. (A lot longer than expected!) Make sure they are nice and evenly bleached - not splotchy.

I did the bleaching in the shower in my dorm since they're pretty durable, but if you're at home, I highly recommend doing this outside to avoid spills.

 (Warnings: bleach can [obviously] change the color of your clothes so be sure to wear old clothes while bleaching and wash your hands afterwards. ALSO, some jeans are made out of really cheap material and will fray and get holes in them from the bleach since it is so harsh. Mine didn't, but I have seen it happen, so be prepared for that to be a potential let-down. This is also why I recommend using an old pair of jeans or some jeans from goodwill for this project).

This is what they looked like after bleaching! They're a little yellowish, but we'll be dying them so that doesn't matter!

5. Now time to dye them! I wanted coral pants, so I went to the rit dye color formula guide and picked out the color I wanted. It called for one part tangerine to one part scarlet. I ended up using all of both packs of dye because I wanted them to be very vibrant. Dye according to the instructions on the packets.

This is what the dye bath looked like before I put the jeans in - it was very bright red!

6. Once the jeans are dyed, wring them out and rinse them in the sink (or even better - with a hose in the yard! This can get really messy). 

Rinse out the jeans until no more color is coming out. Hang them up somewhere to dry. They will drip, so if you hang them inside, be sure to put something underneath them. At this point, don't worry - after you wash and dry them, the color becomes quite a bit lighter.

Wash and dry your jeans as usual, using a color catcher (best invention ever!) Don't put anything else in the washer with them, though, or else they will be coral too! This is what the color catcher looked like after washing. As you can see, there was still a lot of dye left to be washed out of them!

Now go show off your cute new skinnies!

After the bleaching and dying, my jeans didn't fit quite as well in the butt/hip area (they were too baggy!) so if you want to know how to fix that problem, be sure to stop back by for this coming week's Mid-Week Sneak Peek on Wednesday and I will show you how!

Have a great week, friends!

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"For the Spirit that God has given us does not make us timid; instead, his Spirit fills us with power, love, and self-control."

-2 Timothy 1:7