I have been wanting to find some kick crop (a.g.a. cropped flare) jeans since concluding spring. I love my skinny jeans, but I also dearest the idea of some raw-hem cropped flares that are a little looser. I tried Banana Commonwealth's Cropped Girlfriend jeans which fit really well and looked great on me, merely were merely too long. On a person with longer legs they would be absolutely perfect loose/slightly flared crops, but on me they just looked like straight-cut raw-hem jeans. Not what I was going for.

Then I requested some cropped flares or kick crops from Stitch Fix. They sent me a pair in my most recent Fix that had cracking details similar a button wing and raw hem, and they did have a nice feel and stretch, but I just didn't feel like they were very flattering on me (run across photo below).

They just give me likewise much width at the hips in my opinion.

So I was about to give up, but and so I decided to cut off an old pair of Gap bootcut jeans. These jeans are an old favorite of mine, purchased back around the twelvemonth 2002. Aye, that old. Anyway, I take always liked the way they fit, but I quit wearing them a few years ago because they're bootcut. I know almost stylists and fashion magazines take been proverb bootcut is still an option, but they merely feel dowdy to me at the moment.

Here's how the cut-off Gap bootcut jeans turned out:

Pretty good if I do say so myself! I am particularly thrilled because this is not my showtime endeavor at cut off jeans…. In fact, I've tried information technology a few times before with an quondam favorite pair of straight-cut Levi's from effectually the same era (early 2000's) and they did non turn out very well. Part of the trouble was that I cut them off a bit too high. The other trouble is the waist is a fiddling college and the knees and cuffs are about the same width, then they don't have a great shape for cropped jeans. These good 'ole bootcut Gap jeans worked perfectly, though.

Hither's what I did to cut them off:

  1. Put the jeans on.
  2. Ringlet up (gage) the bottom of the jeans and then see how the length looks in a full-length mirror. Arrange the cuff as necessary.
  3. Cut a little slit or hole at the bottom of the fold/rolled part to marking the length y'all want to reach. Repeat this on the other leg.
  4. Accept the jeans off lay them on a flat surface and, using the little cuts you fabricated, cut the jeans straight across.
  5. Put the jeans dorsum on and check the length. If information technology looks adept, yous're done!
  6. **To make them perfect, yous'll desire to launder and dry them to brand your frayed edge softer.

I had Not yet washed and dried them in the photos here, so they're not fraying all that much. I tin't wait to see how much amend the edges wait once they're frayed a little more. I did pull a few threads to start making the edges a little stringy. I made sure to cutting off the long strings — I prefer merely short ones all around.

All in all, they turned out much better than I had expected. I would definitely practice this again if I had a similar pair of old jeans.

For those of you who prefer new jeans in this style, though, I rounded up a few options, including the really beautiful Banana Republic ones I was also short-legged for.

Take you had skillful luck cropping your own jeans? My luck has mostly been bad, but this time it turned out to be actually skilful. If you lot accept whatever tried-and-true tips for cut off your old jeans, please share!

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