I love the frayed jeans trend, but they are so expensive! For reference, frayed jeans from Free People are $78.00! Being a college student, I don’t have that kind of money for jeans.
So, I went to the thrift store and got a pair of dark wash skinny jeans to fray them myself. They aren’t Free People or Levi’s, but for $6 I think they are pretty dang cute.
What you need
- jeans
- fabric scissors
- chalk (or something non permanent to mark the jeans)
- a seam ripper or tweezers
- a ruler
Step 1

First thing to do is cut off the bottoms of your jeans. I marked mine one inch up from the bottom. I recommend measuring how many inches up from the bottom you are cutting so it’s the same on both legs.
Step 2

Next, measure how many inches of fringe you want. I only did 2 inches, but I wish I did more. This part is totally up to you. After you measure that, cut half inch strips up to the line you marked.
Step 3

Lastly, pull out all the threading. I used tweezers, but it would have been so much easier with a seam ripper! I wish I just waited 2 days and ordered this seam ripper on Amazon. If you only have tweezers this method works fine. They end up looking the same in the end!
Step 4
Finish with a run through the washer and dryer. You can twist the fringe to give it the chunky effect if you desire.
The finished product
