The world of fashion changes on a dime, but among the few constants (yes, there are some), is DENIM. Browse  any store right now and you’ll see destroyed denim, patched denim, embellished denim, the list goes on and on, and the prices go up and up, leaving this trend low on the priority list for Mom’s budget.

We asked four young fashionistas to shop their neighborhood Goodwill and create personalized denim with much smaller price tag, $6.19 each to be exact.

Each girl decided to try a different silhouette. We ended up with mom jeans, boyfriend jeans, cropped jeans and a jean skirt.

Purchases at checkout!

First up, we channeled our inner Jackson Pollock and splattered the heck out of one pair. We found that using our fingers to splash the fabric paint allowed us more control over the placement and size of the splatters. This one needs to be done outside, FYI.

Our skirt was next, we used coupons at a local craft store and picked up these crazy cute patches. This was the quickest and simplest DIY we did. It took all of 45 seconds to place and iron the patches.

Finally, we tackled the distressed/destroyed denim, which two of our girls wanted to try.

We did a little research and found out that denim with stretch isn’t best to distress because it tends to break rather than fray or tear, so we steered away from those styles.

We assembled our tools: Exacto knife, a piece of chalk, tweezers, a needle and some good tunes (optional). Our first step was to mark with chalk where we wanted our holes/distressing.

Then we actually got a little lesson in garment vocabulary. Since denim is a woven fabric, it’s made up of both “warp and weft” threads. To create the popular distressed look that just leaves the white threads (weft), you have to remove the blue (warp) threads. We used the needle to start separating the threads, which then made it much easier to pull out the blue with the tweezer.

Once we got the hang of this, it was oddly satisfying. This method is then repeated in all the spots you want to distress.

We are thrilled with the adorable results! Further proof that you’re just a Goodwill visit away from high fashion looks.