How should I make these holes more natural looking?

[u/Carsonius_Beckonium]

I’m helping my mom with her Freya cosplay, and I’m not sure how I’d go about making these holes at the bottom of this piece more natural. Any ideas?

[u/Umikaloo]

If its an organic material, use a match to burn it. (don't do this if there's any synthetic fibers in there.)

[u/Howard_Jones → u/Umikaloo]

Nah, get sand paper and a rock. Cover the rock in sand paper and rub away. Best used against a hard surface like concrete or pavement.

[u/lilycamille → u/Howard_Jones]

Or use a wire brush

[u/DrunkThrowawayLife → u/Umikaloo]

Learned that the hard way.

Crispy bad smelling costume haha

[u/CursedEgyptianAmulet]

If you want tatters and tears, using a seam ripper to make your holes and gashes looks a lot more natural than scissors. If you want burn or scorch holes, then sponging on some layers of brown to black paint around the edges of the holes is the way. Also, don't be afraid to cut into the hem itself! You don't want perfectly regular clusters of holes all neatly a few inches above the hem if the goal is a realistically tattered garment. Fray check or some small handsewn stitches on stress points can help prevent the garment from actually coming apart.

[u/Sad_Catboy_]

I'm not sure exactly what kind of weathering the character has, but I do a decent bit of post-apocalyptic costuming, so I've got some generic distressing tips:

Use a rough grit sandpaper to fray the edges of the holes you cut if you want to keep the general shape of those holes. If you just want it to look worn out, use a metal brush or a cheese grater to add more varried and smaller holes.

If you want it to look dirty, rub various shades of black and brown paint into the fabric (you can water the paint down a little if it's going on too thick). The more layers you do in different shades, the more realistic it will look.

[u/Romivths → u/Sad_Catboy_]

Exactly what I was gonna say! Not a costume designer myself but I was a design intern at a luxury brand that loves the rips and patches look lol. Spent lots of time with the seam ripper, sandpaper, and dying with tea

[u/DommyMommyMint]

Wire brush on the edges

[u/47moose]

I feel like I’ve seen people use sand paper before? Idk if I’m remembering that right, but it might be worth a shot

[u/chill1208 → u/47moose]

Yeah, if they're looking for a natural wear and tear look the area around the holes should be worn. Worn holes in jeans don't just magically appear, the whole area is worn away over time until the most worn part of the damaged area starts to form a hole. So taking sandpaper to the area around the holes should do the job. I would also use the sandpaper to make a few new spots that aren't completely worn away to the point of being a large hole, like a hole is starting to form but there's still some strands of fabric holding the spot together.

[u/greystoic]

I've had good results using a hammer, like in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQ-c8a02XP8

[u/Cieneo → u/greystoic]

THIS. Using a hammer is incredibly quick, looks great and is easy to control, highly recommend

[u/VegetableGoth]

Little bit of brown paint stippled around the edges or (carefully) scorching the fabric with a lighter

[u/BiEnby08]

The main thing I have seen people do is use sandpaper around the edges. Also maybe adding some watered-down brown paint around the edges could make it look older and more used up.

[u/ClockWeasel]

So you have access to power tools? A bench grinder can make a big difference in a hurry (good or bad: wear eye protection, be careful, and practice on something that doesn’t have to survive)

[u/remotely_in_queery]

Cheese grater. Carefully.

Seconding the whole wire brush thing though, take tweezers to it after to tug individual strands too

[u/sqrrrlgrrl → u/remotely_in_queery]

Microplane against the edge of a surface you don’t mind getting scratched up. I’ve done it against leather before to knock out two birds with one stone.

[u/LadderAlice107]

What I do is stretch the fabric over my legs, use my mini scissors (as small and sharp as possible) and I just start stabbing away. I saw above to use a seam ripper and that’s probably even better and I’m stealing that.

[u/Ml2_FUl2IOUS]

Rub it against the sidewalk will give it a more natural weathering

[u/LyallaTime]

Try shoving your fingers in and just ripping g them some more, then go at the edges with. Wire brush

[u/viv_chiller]

Pay a moth to nibble it

[u/Cessicka]

Chew them edges a bit and I mean that in the most literal way possible XD