DIY American Flag Shorts

Topshop MOTO Flag Hotpants $70

Topshop's MOTO Flag Printed Hotpants were my inspiration behind this DIY. I got the idea a few weeks back when I had the creative juices flowing. If I had been a. smart or b. saw the Nasty Gal America Cuttoff Shorts I would have used white shorts but..............I didn't.......

Nasty Gal America Cutoff Shorts $88

Either way I did mine the hard way (you live and you learn).

What you need:

- A light pair of shorts (if your doing jeans do a light pair....but take it from me and do a white short it'll be easier)
- Red, White, and Blue fabric paint
- Paint Brushes
- Paint Tape
- Cut out stencil of stars
- Cup of water

Steps:

1. Start taping of your jeans. I wanted to do the stripes as even as possible so I just used the width of the tape and taped one whole pants leg.

2. Remove the tape (whether you are starting with red or white...I started with white). Then you can start the painting process.

3. Tape the second pants leg. Cover anything you don't want to paint. Once you have everything taped up start painting the pants leg blue.

4. If your paint on the other leg is dry start removing the other stripes of tape so you can begin painting the other stripes. Since I started with red I covered up the red stripes with tape to try and help keep the white paint off of it. Once you have you stripes covered begin painting.

5. Once your blue paint is dry, take your star stencil and use a thin brush to paint the star. Don't worry if things look funky or don't have sharp edges. You'll be able to go over it once everything is dry.

6. Once everything is dry start doing over your stars and stripes. Remember that you are hand painting and sharp lines are hard to do. If you want crisp lines I advise you to use a thin brush or to use fabric markers. I hope that you guys have a steadier hand then I do too. But anyway, I enjoy the uneasiness of the lines and stars. It gives it a handmade feel but also kinda "I don't give a f**k" punk edge.

And the final result is:

So what is the total that I spent? I bought a set of fabric paint for $17.99 and these Forever21 shorts for $15.50. Overall it came to about $33. Which is about $37 less then Topshop's and about $55 less then Nasty Gal's. And I can say that I DIYed them.

I can't wait to wear these to my 4th of July picnic on Monday!

What do you guys think? Would you give it a try?