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There are a few tricks you can use to get that distressed look from your own jeans right at home. While you may have to pay more in designer stores for holes in your jeans, there are other, cheaper ways to achieve that frayed and worn look.

You can take a butter knife and scrape the section of the jeans that you want to fray.  By scraping with medium pressure, using the serrated edge of the knife, back and forth in the direction that you want the fraying, you can have designer jeans at an affordable price.  You can also use a cheese grater to fray the pants, just make sure to put a solid object in the leg of the pants so that you have something to press against.  For quicker results you can use an art supply cutter. 

To fade the jeans, rub the intended areas with sand paper until you have reached the desired color.  For creases, fold at the place you wish crease, then iron over the fold and apply a thin line of bleach, using a bleach stick, to the fold.  You may need to apply warm water to the bleach, so it would be best to wash your jeans immediately after working on them.  Washing your jeans will help to get that used, faded color. 

There are also small tricks to get your jeans softer without using fabric softener.  A little known fact is that if you add white, clear, distilled vinegar to your wash cycle, not only will your jeans feel softer, but the vinegar will also clean your washing machine!  You should use cold water and split the difference between vinegar and detergent for the normal amount of detergent you would use in a load.  To prolong the life of your jeans, turn them inside out before putting them into the wash.  Not letting them dry completely in the dryer, or using a low heat setting will also prolong the life of your jeans. Keep in mind that you will be weakening the fabric of the jeans by using most of these methods, so there is no need to go overboard with the creativity.  You can always make them look a little bit more worn, but it’s much harder to make them look new again, so be patient!