#82...cut-offs for all

I am on the fence about denim cut-off shorts. They look good in ads like this one from Refinery 29, however, for the most part I am baffeled as to how jeans that are so comfortable and flattering can turn into shorts that are awkward and uncomfortable. I probably need to invest in some pre-made cut-offs like these from Madewell, but for now, I will continue to alter my jeans, hoping to create the perfect pair of cut-offs.

I am headed to ACL music festival this weekend, and am in the mood to don some cut-offs, so I chose a pair of my jeans that had a hole in the knee and began the quick, cheap, DIY.

Here are my jeans before:

Next, I tried them on and held a measuring tape from the side waist seam down my leg to determine the length. I searched online for some guidance as to what length would look the best and this is what I found on blogher.com To quote... "A good rule of thumb is that your shorts should hit no higher than mid-thigh, and no lower than the tops of your knees. Ideally the hem of your shorts will fall right to the slimmest part of your thigh; that draws the eye to that particular spot and makes your leg look long and slim. Contrary to popular belief, a longer hemline is not necessarily the most flattering or slimming; going slightly shorter will emphasize your curves and make your legs look more shapely."

According to this, my ideal length is 13.5 inches, so I used a ruler to mark a straight line across the leg at that point. You can faintly see the orange pencil pointing to my marked cut line.Next, I cut and voila! shorts! I decided not to really spend time fraying mine, as the first time I wash them they will start to fray, and fraying them won't make them look any more or less like cut-off jeans.