[purchase/affiliate] My friend Genevieve has been a serial frayer for years. She just lops the bottom off any trousers too long with a pair of sharp scissors and then frays the hem. I have been the person looking at someone wearing wide-leg, stylish jeans with a fray hem ready to pay any money to replicate that beachy casualness, forgetting that they probably didn’t buy them like that but did a bit of home remedying to make them better than they were in the first place. Please excuse the clutter in the background – sorry, but I don’t keep a tidy bedroom! I also took these pics straight out of bed 🙂
At 5ft 3ins (nearly 4 but don’t quite make it), almost every pair of trouser is too long for me. There’s a lovely lady down the road at the dry-cleaners who takes them up for me but when I bought the striped linen blend pair that you see from H&M, I really fancied trying to give them a fray hem. I rang my son just to make sure I’d remembered how to do it right and got to work.
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I use Dora’s hair brush (less than £5 HERE) because it’s a fine wire brush that makes fraying a doddle. I’d recommend that if you’re going to be a frayer, you invest in one because it cuts out so much time – I’d say it took under a minute to fray the edges of my new trousers. Cut the hem with sharp scissors to the length that you’d like and then you just brush at the edges all the way around until you have a fray length you like. It’s just that easy.
I’d strongly advise not fraying for the first time on anything you hold dear or that cost a lot. I went wildly wrong at the cutting stage which luckily, the fraying disguises. These linen blend trousers are £17.99 (in several colourways), quite droopy in nature (I ordered large because I want them wide and loose) and at least 3 ins too long for my short legs. They’re super comfy though and I’ve tried them with a loose linen shirt and with a jacket and t-shirt and they look just as good with both styles. It’s my intention to wear them with trainers, not the wedges you see. If you’re lucky enough to have long legs, you can disregard all of this and enjoy your lovely, perfectly hemmed summer, but for shorties like me, a dog grooming brush and a pair of scissors are my ultimate summer accessories :-). They’re HERE.
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