Q&A for How to Make Clothes Look Vintage and Worn

Look for fashion plates from a particular era that interest you. Watch movies, visit libraries, and look for advertisements from that particular era to get inspiration. Search online for 40s ad campaigns and get ideas from them.

Use a razor to fray the edges, rub some sandpaper on the cloth, and add dirt or dust. Setting fire to the flannel shirt will result in burnt clothing, but the cotton would just fall apart a few days later.

Dip them in a strong mixture of lemon juice and water. Squeeze them out, but, don't rinse. Hang them outside, wrong side-out in direct sunlight, and be sure to rotate them every day. Leave them out there til you get the fade you're after, then toss them in the wash and dry them with a dryer sheet and a towel to help re-soften the material.

Because some people like this type of look, and pre-ripped clothing is often more expensive than just doing it yourself.

Because of how light the fabric is, you won't be able to make it any lighter. Instead, consider soaking it in black tea or washing it with colored garments. This will give the white fabric a dingy, aged look that white tends to get as it gets older.

Since coffee and tea are both natural dyes, they will fade slightly with every wash.

Use a rotary tool, sandpaper, and bleach. Further explanation is in the article.

Use washable marker, coffee, or other things that come out in the wash.

There are a couple of ways you can make your clothes look worn and old. One is to actually sand the material to wear it down. Tuck a piece of cardboard into the garment first, then sand the area with sandpaper until you're happy with the way it looks. Focus on the areas that will get the most wear, such as hems, cuffs, and knees so it looks more natural. Some fabrics, like denim or canvas are super tough, so you can use a rotary tool or dremel with a coarse-grit sanding drum attachment. If you hae a shirt with a print that you want to fade, but not fully remove, use fine-grit sandpaper. If you don't have sandpaper, just about anything with a rough, abrasive texture can be used to wear and distress fabric. Great examples include: cheese graters, pumice stones, nail files, rocks, and wire cleaning brushes.

If it's a t-shirt with a print on it, you don't want to rough it up so much that the print is entirely gone. Instead, you can lightly fade it by using fine-grit sandpaper and gently sanding it until you're happy with the way it looks. You can also soften and fade t-shirts by washing them with salt and washing soda. Place your shirt and a towel into the washing machine and let it fill up with hot water. Then add 2 cups (600 g) of salt and 1/4 cup (175 g) of washing soda (sodium carbonate) and your regular detergent. Run a normal cycle with hot water and then dry the shirt when you're finished. It'll be lighter after 1 wash, but you'll need to repeat this process 3 to 5 times before your shirt becomes soft and worn. You also need to keep in mind that your shirt may shrink during this process, so start with something 1 or 2 sizes larger than what you normally wear.

A great way to give a white shirt a dingy, old sort of look is to dye it with black tea . Boil a large pot of water and place a few bags of black tea in it. Allow the tea to steep in the water for at least 15 minutes and then remove the tea bags. Wash or wet the shirt before you steep it so it's clean and better able to absorb the tea. Place the wet fabric in the tea water, making sure that it’s completely submerged. Allow it to soak for at least 60 minutes. Then, remove it, wring it out, and hang it up to air dry. The stronger you make the tea, the darker the color will be in the end. The weaker you make the tea, the more subtle the look will be.

You can always coffee or tea stain clothes to make them look older. That only changes the colour of the clothing item and won't ruin the actual materials.

Take some of the really little strings, and pull a little bit of them out. This will make it look older. Or, just simply wear it a lot.

This is hard to do. Sport coats are not very rough, and ripping or tearing it would look bad. You could try wearing it a lot, to give it more of a worn look. Adding elbow patches can help too.

Choose the right tools. Use a pair of sharp fabric scissors or a razor blade to cut the denim. Avoid using tools that may snag or pull the fabric, like a serrated knife. When cutting the denim, cut small sections at a time to avoid cutting too much fabric and creating a hole or tear that is too large. Use sandpaper or a wire brush to thin the denim in areas where natural wear and tear would occur. Be gentle and don't overdo it, as it can weaken the fabric. Fray the edges. Wash and dry carefully: