Jeans, Jeans, The Musical Fruit

Or rather, the faded, old, worn out, and in desperate need of a revamp. (Yes, I have red toes. They contrast ever-so-nicely with my blue jeans, don't they?)

Here are the jeans, though. They're heavy duty ones I got for Christmas from my parents a few years back. They were lovely in their heyday, but after a few years of being worn they got the faded around the knees, I've-been-loved-but-now-I'm-not-very-nice-looking look. You know the one I'm talking about. These had been sitting unworn on my closet shelf for what seems like forever though; only to be pulled out when I procrastinatedforgot to do laundry for too long. In short, they were really, really, really sad.

Recently I've been looking for a pair of acid washed jeans, but haven't managed to find a pair that's understated and fits me. Do you see where I'm going here? Yeah, it did take me a half a year or so to connect the dots - old jeans, faded, lack of acid washed jeans, lack of money - but I eventually got there...I needed to make my own pair. So I did a bit of googling and pondering, and came up with an idea.

Recipe for Acid-Washed Jeans

• Jeans - cheap ones, old ones, ones you don't care about...you get the picture.
• Bleach - the amount depends on the jeans. I used a roughly a couple cups.
• Rubber gloves - because you really don't want to be touching bleach straight bleach.
• Old clothes - you don't want anything nice to get spotty.
• A Sink - or tote, bucket, whatever. Something that will easily hold a pair of jeans. A sink really works best, though.
• Water - just enough to dampen the jeans.

From here on it's simple. Dampen the jeans, then start pouring on bleach. Start with a little, wait 5-10 minutes, then pour on more as needed. Hold up the jeans, inspect them, figure out where you want more color gone, and keep adding bleach. The time this takes will vary (it took me an hour and a half), so keep a close eye on the jeans so they don't over-bleach. After they're at the point you want them to be at, start rinsing them. This is where it comes in handy to be doing this in a sink, because you have running water right there instead of having to use pitchers of water. After you've rinsed them well, put them in the wash by themselves and set it going. It's going to take a few cycles to get the smell out, so be prepared to wait a while to wear them unless you want to smell like you've been cleaning bathrooms all day!

Mine still smell faintly chloriney even after three washings, so I think I may have to pop them in again. I really couldn't wait to try them on, though.

So there you go, acid washed jeans in an afternoon. You can't beat that.