Cut-off trousers

Now summer is here I can start wearing my favourite cut-off trousers again. I love these - they're so cool and fresh looking. I've had them for about 4 years now, and they're still going strong.

I was given them by my Mum, who didn't like them any more. She's a little bit shorter than me, so full length on her looks like not-quite-cut-off on me. I decided to cut them a little shorter and add some interest to the hem. I was really into crewel work at the time, and I thought about embroidering them (I had more time on my hands then). Luckily, I decided that was far too much work so I used fabric paints instead.

I drew the pattern, based on elements of several crewel work designs that I'd copied from the internet, using Paint Shop Pro, then printed it off. I thought about trying to transfer it somehow, but ended up tracing it through the trouser fabric as it's very loosly woven and a bit see-through.

I just used a black fabric pen for the outline, then filled in using fabric paint. You can't tell very easily from the photo, but the pink and turquoise paints are slightly irridescent.

I have to top up the paint every now and then, because it does fade eventually (especially if you wash at high temperatures, which in this case I do - after all they are white). But they're well worth that little bit of effort.