Happy Independence Day all! I hope you all enjoy the festivities- whatever they may be. Tonight its all bonfire and fireworks for me, and I'm sure looking forward to it!
So, to get into the spirit of things, I DIY-ed a pair of shorts, creating an adorable and easy tutorial on getting into the all-American spirit. The DIY only takes an hour or so, and needs the following supplies:
- Red, White, and Blue acrylic fabric paint
- Paint Brush
- Painter's Tape (I just lined up cardstock on my edges due to the lack of tape)
- Card Stock
- Star Stencil
- One Pair of Shorts or Cut-Offs
- Sand Paper or Cheese Grater (totally optional)
So for starters, take those shorts/cut-offs and flip them inside out, slipping a piece of cardstock into the pant legs.
After you've done that, tape out the areas where you want to paint your red stripes, let dry, then paint the white strips. While they're drying, paint the other pant leg blue, let dry, then use your stencil to paint white stars on top of the blue. *NOTE: be cautious with how much white paint is on the brush when you begin to fill in the stencil, the paint does tend to bleed. The front part of the shorts should look like this:
Now, flip your shorts over and do the same thing on the other side. Let it dry completely. Once they're dry, you may notice that you have this thick, hard coating of paint in certain areas. This part is where the sand paper or cheese grater comes in. Take your cheese grater or sandpaper and rub down those areas, giving your jeans a warn, faded look.
Turn your shorts inside-out, and detail the back pockets.
As you see here, I took the ends of my jeans and folded them up. This gives you the option of showing however much of the stars and stripes you desire. Wash them once, and there you go! Perfect for either the wonderful 4th of July, or the Americana fad that's sweeping the West Coast!
I hope you enjoy them as much as I do! Good luck!!
P.S. Get creative, you can do this with ANY theme- try it out and share your results :)
