How to Embellish Jeans: a Quick Tutorial

Sometimes you get a plain pair of jeans that just needs a little pizazz, you need to cover a stain, or a design you don’t like. Embellishing jeans or other clothing is so simple! This quick tutorial will show you an easy way to embellish clothing.

Obviously I thrift a lot. But not just for clothing to refashion or upcycle. I love to buy ready-to-wear clothing there too. I have found some of my favorite jeans, great kid clothes, and even work shirts for my hubby. I came home one day with some Children’s Place jeans for my oldest boy – in absolutely pristine condition. And for only 50 cents. Perfect, right?

And then I turned them around and found little hearts on the pockets. Whoops. Sorry, dude.But, no need to give them away.  This is an easy fix! We just embellish the jeans!

How to embellish jeans:

1. Trace over one of the back pockets to give you a template.

2. Using the template you made, cut out two pocket shapes from your fabric.

3. Sew around the sides and bottom of your pocket – but don’t sew the top of the pocket (or you’ll sew the pocket closed).

4. Trim around the edges, cutting off any excess fabric (though I left a little so that it would fray – more about that below)

4. Use a fabric glue, such as Liquid Stitch, to glue the top of the fabric onto the pocket.

5. Optional: hand stitch the fabric along the top edge of the pocket.

I used a fabric that will fray after it’s washed – I want the fraying for the look of it. But if you don’t want yours to fray you have options: either add fray check around the edges of your pocket or cut your fabric a little larger than your pocket template, and iron the edges under before you sew. You could also use a fabric that won’t fray, like knit fabric, but I’d only use that if you find one with very little stretch.

My four-year-old said “Wow, Mom… are these jeans really for me?!” when I showed him. That, my friends, is 50 cents and 15 minutes of naptime well-spent.