Summer to me means cut off shorts. And as much as I love to wear them, I love DIYing them even more.
I have so many pairs of jeans and pants in my closet that were once loved but are now just too short, too tight, ripped, have lost all their stretch or all of these combined.
But as a self proclaimed hoarder I just can’t throw away a perfectly okay pair of jeans. And when I find a pair I used to wear all the way back in high school, I can’t help but feel nostalgic.
Luckily for me, cut off shorts have been on trend for a while now.
So all I have to do is cut them off at my desired length and I have a brand new pair of summer shorts! And if you see the prices they charge for extra distressed jeans, your old jeans just saved you a ton of money!
But the fun doesn’t stop there. Adding your own design makes them one of kind and instantly more fashionable!
This cute and easy watercolor design makes your shorts the perfect conversation starter. Everyone will be asking you where you got bought this brand spanking new pair of shorts!
How To Make Watercolor Shorts
What I used:
- white or light colored pair of (cut off) shorts
- fabric markers
- bowl with water and a sponge
- piece of plastic or cardboard
1. Prep your shorts
I bought a pair of cheap white shorts and cut them to the length I liked. To stop the color from bleeding onto the other side of the shorts I used a piece of cardboard. In hindsight a large piece of plastic would have made more sense. The cardboard does get soaking wet after a while. But it still wordked fine!
2. Wet your shorts
Dip your sponge in the bowl of water, squeeze it so it won’t drip and then wet a small section of your shorts.
3. Draw on your shorts
Draw on the wet part of your shorts with a fabric marker. The color will slowly start to bleed.
If the marker gets too wet it might stop working. In that case just hold the markers with the tip facing down for a while.
4. Repeat
With your sponge, wet a different small patch of your shorts. Draw on this section with a different fabric marker in a different color. I put some colors close together so they could bleed into each other and sometimes I left a large white space.
If the colors don’t bleed as much as you would like them to you can go over them with a wet sponge once more.
5. Wear your shorts
After about an hour or so you should see most of the watercolor effect but the colors will keep bleeding slowly until the shorts are completely dry. When this side of the shorts seems dry enough, flip them over and start again on the other side.
Let the shorts dry overnight before wearing them. If you used fabric markers you should be able to wash your shorts as you normally would.
Enjoy!
Ina
