Plus Size DIY Tassel Hem Jeans
A trend that I’ve really been enjoying this season is brightly coloured, tassel hem jeans; they were spotted everywhere across the fashion weeks (especially Milan) at the back end of last year and they’re all over the place in straight size collections. But could I find any colourful tassel hem jeans from the plus size brands so I could take part in this fun trend myself..? Well sadly not, but it did give me the inspiration for my next quick and easy DIY.
Image credit L – R; Topshop | Melodie Jeng/Getty Images (Milan Fashion Week) | Neiman Marcus
This DIY is really simple but it does require a bit of stitching. If (unlike me) you’re a dab hand on a sewing machine then this will take you around 30 minutes, if sewing by hand (like I did) then set aside around an hour.
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Firstly, identify what kind of trim you’d like. You can pick up lovely embroidered, pom pom or tassel trims and fringing in a variety of colours from either your local haberdashery or online (e.g. eBay). I went for 3 metres, in case of mistakes, of gold and green tassel trim from eBay which cost me the princely sum of £3.49. Once I had the trim, I picked out a pair of old blue jeans which were in need of some jazzing up. I went with some slim leg ones, but straight leg or relaxed fit seem to lend themselves to this sort of thing very well too.
Once you have your jeans and your trim, turn up the legs on the jeans a few inches and to buy a bit of clearance room for the tassels (fig.1 & 2 above). There should be a little bit of ankle on display now when you try them on. Then measure and cut the trim to length (fig.3).
Before sewing on the trim, sew the turn up into place with a simple but secure back stitch. 90% of plus size jeans aren’t actually denim so this shouldn’t be too much of a pain, but if you are hand sewing onto very thick denim please use a larger / stronger needle than usual. Once this is done, sew on the trim; take your time with it and make sure to keep it level all the way round.
And it’s as simple as that: some new, on-trend jeans in around an hour. One big thing I learned from this idea is that it’s much harder to sew onto fabric with elastane or lycra than I thought it was going to be, if you have a go at this I 100% recommend using jeans with no stretch. As with the majority of my DIYs, you can restore the jeans back to their former state by unpicking the stitches, washing them and then ironing the turn ups out.
I bought so much of this trim that I have enough left over to add to something else. I’m also eyeing up this gorgeous pom pom trim on eBay which I really want to add to pencil skirt and a crop top for a cute, co-ord type vibe. I’m pretty much going to have to stop myself adding lots of weird and wonderful trim to everything I own; now I’ve started it’s proving very difficult to stop!
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