DIY DENIM DISTRESSING

DIY denim distressing has been my thing since the ripe age of fifteen. In the thick of my Tumblr era, I was desperate for a perfect pair of skinny jeans. The meticulous person that I am, I needed them to be just the right amount of skinny, perfectly sliced at the knee, and hit right at my ankle. Of course, those pairs of pants did not already exist. Today’s twenty-five-year-old Phil is not shocked in the slightest. I now know that most clothes simply are made for a specific body type of which I do not, and never have, had. 

Fifteen-year-old Phil could not, and would not accept defeat. As a solution, I dug through my mom’s storage in our basement to find her beloved sewing machine and kits. I broke out the manual and learned all about sewing, top to bottom, back to front. I still remember practicing nailing just the right amount of pedal speed. My family members can attest, my downtime was spent alone, in my bedroom, doing almost surgical work on my wardrobe. What was born out of this experience was one of the fundamental lessons that shaped who I am today. I learned that garments are tools, an armor almost. Garments gave me, and continue to give me, the confidence and comfort that I needed to go out and brace the world every day. 

Oh, how times have changed. You couldn’t pay me to stuff my legs into a pair of skinny jeans today. Although, they say everyone has a price, right?

Recently, I distressed a denim jacket of mine, renewing my love for the jacket and for DIY’ing clothing.