DIY Painter Jeans

Over the summer I came to realize that Maeve, my cute little niece, has some of the same jeans as me. Op, I mean genes! Hehe. Maeve is a budding DIYer as well, and so the two of us got to it a couple of times. One of our main projects was some DIY painter jeans. Just like the splatter booties I made this spring, this is as easy a DIY as it gets. Anyone could accomplish this, and you don’t have to be a master artist to do it–in fact quite the opposite. The messier the better with DIY painter jeans. Here, out at Maeve’s grandmother’s lake home (featured last week), we both grabbed our recent collaboration, a white tee and tank, and headed outside for a photoshoot. I gave her one of my anklets to wear, so we were perfectly matchy matchy. Maeve is a dancer, so she even showed me the way to point the toe with the heel up. During the summer Maeve proved her passion with these other DIY projects: painting a tee, sewing a patch onto a white cap, making some cutoff jean shorts, and using the remnants from those jeans to create a crossover purse. Ya, I’d say she’s a DIYer–just like her auntie!

DIY Painter Jeans

Really, these couldn’t be any easier. It’s even silly to include directions, but here are some details not to forget.

1. Gather the supplies.

We used a variety of different paints, making sure that acrylics were included as they won’t wash out in the washer. Because we were on the grass we ended up not needing the newspaper, but if this were to be done inside, lay newspaper down. We used both paper plates and ceramic bowls for the kitchen: the paper plates were for smearing our colors onto, and the bowls were used to clean our brushes. The most important item was the plastic gloves. These were the best artist’s brush for smooshing paint around. The brushes, with a little paint diluted with water, were excellent for creating the splattering effects.

2. Start painting and smooshing!

We started of by wearing the jeans so the paint would be placed perfectly on our body, and then for the splattering we laid the jeans out on the grass. Maeve went with a color palette; she wanted pinks and purples to be prominent. Gigi went for all colors just as Gigi would. I was a little like Gigi going for many colors, but I really wanted white to be the primary color.

3. Lay to dry and then wear!

Really, it’s that easy. We laid our jeans out on the bushes. Once they were dried, we washed them–especially since the paint made them very stiff. Some of the paint came off, but that made them look all the more realistic–just like an artist!

Will you be taking an old pair of jeans to make some painter jeans? I recommend doing so; they make for the perfect weekend jean.