Pearly whites: Stylize your cutoffs with elegant pearl accents

A string of pearls is the ultimate ladylike accessory (think “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”). It's easy to add a lighthearted ladylike touch to your cutoff denim shorts with a few strategically placed decorative pearl beads.

Only the most basic sewing skills are needed for this sweet pearl flower-accented shorts project. To make each flower, you simply sew a larger pearl to the denim and surround it with six or seven smaller ones. The effect is as sweet as can be, and the embellishments give your shorts a little extra touch that people will notice. You can take the abstract route and place a series of pearl flowers randomly on your shorts, or do something more structured, like border the pockets with the flowers or just put a row of them on each cuff. Either way, this summer look is a winner!

Materials
- Pair of denim shorts
- Sewing needle
- White thread
- 5-10 larger white pearl beads
- 40-50 smaller white pearl beads
- Scissors​

Instructions
1. Lay the denim shorts on your work surface.

2. Thread the sewing needle with the white thread.

3. Bring the needle and thread through the denim material just above the curved “pocket within a pocket” portion of the left-side front pocket. The needle should enter the backside of the pocket and come through the front.

4. Put the needle and thread through the larger pearl bead and make a few stitches through the denim so that the pearl is securely affixed to the denim.

5. Now sew one of the smaller pearl beads to the denim, placing it directly up against the larger bead.

6. Repeat step 5 with six more smaller beads and orient them so that they surround the larger bead and form a flower.

7. Put the needle and thread through the front of the denim shorts so the needle ends up behind the pocket.

8. Wrap the white thread around the needle a few times and bring the needle through the loop so that a knot is formed.

9. Cut the needle and excess thread free from the knot.

10. Stitch five or six pearl flowers to the shorts in various places on the front side of the shorts and they’ll be ready to wear.