Old clothes collecting dust in your closet can always be transformed into something new. This is the age of zero waste, after all. Nearly everyone has that treasured old-school denim jacket they never wear but can’t seem to toss–so why not turn your old jacket into a new denim vest? I recently cut my denim jacket down to a denim vest and I absolutely LOVE wearing it over everything from sundresses to tops! Don’t fancy yourself a seamstress? No worries. Trust us, this DIY is super easy.

Directions

  1. Take the denim jacket and cut the sleeves off directly at the seems of the shoulder to create the rigid vest look. I prefer to leave the denim frayed after the sleeves have been cut for a true look of frayed denim.
  2. Although this look is already perfect to throw over a dress or top, you don’t have to stop there. You can bleach your newly-cut vest for a more distressed look! Hint: It’s always a good idea to practice the bleaching process with unwanted denim items to get the hang of  it.
  3. The first step is to tightly roll the vest up and rubber-band it like shown above.
  4. Start with a ratio of 1/4 bleach and 3/4 water in a plastic tub, depending on how much bleach you want to use. Wear gloves and place the rolled-up vest in the tub of bleach and water and begin mixing it around.
    • If you want to go with a light bleach look, put the 1/4 bleach 3/4 water ratio into a spray bottle and spray the rolled up vest. Make sure you are doing this outside where nothing else is getting bleach on it–and use gloves. *FYI: if using black denim, the bleach tends to look like a rusty orange color.
    • If you don’t want a random pattern for your vest, you can lay the vest flat and use a paintbrush to apply the bleach to create patterns. Put newspaper in the middle of the vest so the bleach does not leak through to the other side. Again, make sure to use gloves!
    • After bleach has been applied, make sure to rinse your vest within five minutes! Doing this outside is easier so you can use a garden hose. Because you must rinse within five minutes, make sure you know what kind of patterns or amount of bleaching you want to do so you can get it done quickly.
  5. The final step is to machine wash the vest alone. Do not machine dry the vest; instead, lay it out to dry. After the wash and dry, you’re done and ready to rock your creation!

Are you trying this DIY denim vest? Show us yours on Instagram @lulus using #lovelulus!