https://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/dull-pants-to-sassy-short • Posted by Hope W.
I wanted to make a cute pair of shorts that were work appropriate. I was digging through my closet and came across these pants that were just okay and decided they would make a perfect pair of shorts.
I wanted to make a cute pair of shorts that were work appropriate. I was digging through my closet and came across these pants that were just okay and decided they would make a perfect pair of shorts.
First you will need an old pair of pants.
Put on your pants and mark where the knees are. I used pins but you can use safety pins or anything that will stick on like tape.
Next you need to figure out how short you want your shorts to be. I wanted mine to be no more than 2" above then knee so I could wear them to work so I measured up half and inch above my marked knee and cut the legs off. You can mark a straight line to make it nice and even. Keep the extra leg bits, you will need them later.
Once the legs were cut off I serged the edges of the pants leg. If you don't have a surger you can do a small hem, use a zig-zag stitch on your sewing machine or use pinking sheers.
I measured up one inch with my ruler (see above image) and pressed it firmly down using lots of steam on the iron.
Then I used the pressed edge as a guide and folded it up another inch. Once it was even I pressed it firmly with the iron again. That's it for the shorts, if you want to secure your legs a bit more you can always hand tack the folds down at the seams.
Now grab those discarded legs because we are going to make a matching belt out of them. I needed 4 18" long 2" wide pieces for mine. Take your ruler and mark and cut the required pieces out of a pant leg. I kept the pre-existing hem on two of the pieces and cut it off of the other two.
I placed the hemmed pieces on the two ends of the belt and pinned all the pieces together. I sewed those on the machine and serged and pressed the seams. I also did a small 1/4" hem down each side of the belt to finish it off.
Last but not least I wore my shorts and looked fabulous, and now you can too!