Stripey Pants On The Cheap

For those of us who wear bright trousers, but ain't paying £30+ for them.

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Have you ever seen a pair of pants like this, and then found out just how much they cost - aka. too much? Hell, I know I have, and as I seem to live in a constant state of poor, I decided, as I usually do, to DIY them.

The cost of the project will vary hugely, depending on what you're willing to pay for the trousers and dye. I spent about £15 altogether, though now I have extra dye, tape and spray paint for other projects, so the price of this project is considerably cheaper than that. I think the trousers were about £6, as, if I recall correctly, I got them in a sale at T.K. Maxx..

*note: I only put 2 hours for the time, as that's the most it should take for actually adding the stripes, though it will take considerably longer if you're dying the pants yourself - I sent about 1 and a half hours actually dying them, but I had to allow for washing/drying etc., which included leaving them to dry over night.

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You Will Need (4 things)

  • 1 x Plain Jeans /Trousers
  • 1 x Can Spray Paint
  • 1 packets Masking Tape
  • 1 x Fabric Dye (optional)

Steps (9 steps, 120 minutes)

  1. 1

    I started off with my long-time enemy, the white designer jeans.

    *If you already have trousers the colour that you want one of the sets of stripes to be, make sure that they're clean, and skip to step 5*

  2. 2

    Choose your dye, and dye them! There should be instructions that come with most packs of dye, so I'm not going to add any instructions for that..

  3. 3

    My dying method involved a fair bit of waiting, so I spray painted myself a shirt whilst waiting. (Yes, that is Dr.Steel)

  4. 4

    After the pants have been dyed and washed, ensure that they're dried before moving on to step 5. For best results, iron the trousers before step 5.

  5. 5

    Stick strips of masking tape onto the trousers as so. Make sure that you completely cover all the fabric on the side that you are working on that you don't want spray painted. Here you could do pretty much any pattern you like with the tape, I just chose stripes because I like them and I'm lazy.

  6. 6

    Completely spray that side of your pants with the spray paint. It's generally a good idea to test the paint on a small scrap of similarly coloured fabric before spraying any clothes, just to know what to expect before it's too late.

    *remember that spray paint is bad for your lungs, try not to breathe it in, and always wear a mask whilst using it*

  7. 7

    Once dry, repeat steps 5 & 6 on the other side of your trousers.

  8. 8

    Once they're all dry, and you've removed the masking tape, you've got yourself a new pair of pants! I wash them before wearing them, just to get rid of the spray paint smell. Thanks for taking the time to read this, I appreciate it.

  9. 9

    Feel free to experiment with different amounts of colours, widths, shapes, zebra stripes etc. For example, for 3 colours, follow this how to, with wider gaps between the stripes, and then cover the spray paint stripes and half of each of the base colour stripes before spraying a 3rd colour on.. experiment!