DIY: How To Make Shorts

My mom taught me how to make pants and shorts when I was about 14 years old. Thanks mom! Man...I was bustin' out these babies left and right for all my friends and family. They're that easy, fun and fast to make.

This sewing project is great for beginners because there's no need for fancy sewing techniques, or tools. Everything you need is usually found lying around the house.  You can pretty much use any kind of fabric you want, embellish it with anything you want and change the shape of the pattern as much as you want. Let's just say you can go cray cray making all sorts of shorts and pants using this method. 

I spent about $9.00 on the fabric (it was on sale) and the rest of the materials, I already had in my sewing arsenal.  Here we go peeps...

What you'll need:

• 1 yard- fabric of your choice 
• 1 yard- 1/2 inch elastic trim
• a pair of shorts (yes, we're making shorts with shorts) 
• measuring tape
• thread
• ruler
• pins or binder clips
• a dark colored marker or pen
• craft paper or newspaper
• scissors
• sewing machine

Step 1: Trace your shorts all the way around onto craft paper.

Step 2: First, add a 1/2 inch seam allowance to the left, right and bottom of your shorts pattern. Second, add a 1 inch seam allowance to the top (waist) of your pattern. Then, cut your pattern out. 

Step 3: Place your pattern adjacent to the fold of your fabric (very important that it is adjacent to the fold, as shown above).

 Step 4: Trace your pattern onto your fabric and cut it out.

**Go back and repeat step 3 and 4 because you're gonna need two fabric pieces. 

Step 5: Unfold your fabric pieces and lay flat with right sides facing each other. 

Step 6: Pin curved sides together and sew.

**I didn't serge the seams because I wanted to show you guys a quick version of  making these shorts. However, if you have a serger and want a professional finish, then I highly recommend that you serge all of your seams (it looks much cleaner when you do this). If you don't have a serger, that's totally fine too. You can straight stitch using a basic sewing machine.

Step 7: Fold the bottom hem in towards the wrong side of the fabric (here, I folded the hem in about 1 inch). Pin it down and sew all the way across. Repeat this step on the other side.

Step 8: Pin  the crotch area together and sew all the way across.

**This is what your shorts should look like at this point. Hang in there, you're almost finished! 

Step 9: Fold down the waist hem about 1 inch. Pin and sew all the way around leaving a 1 inch opening (this is where you'll insert your elastic trim as shown in the next step).

Step 10: Measure your waist and subtract 3 inches. This measurement will be the length of your elastic trim. Pin a safety pin onto the tip of the elastic trim, insert it into the 1 inch opening that I mentioned in the last step and work it all the way around.

Step 11: Remove the safety pin and sew the ends of the elastic trim together. Pull on the elastic to make sure it is nicely attached. Sew that 1 inch opening closed.

Done! You just made shorts! Now, go wild at the fabric store and make shorts in different prints, textures and shapes.

Let me know if you have any questions or concerns about this tutorial. Also, send me pictures if you make a them. I'd love to see your version. 

Find the video version of this tutorial on Vimeo!

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