Tuesday 15 February 2011

Ladies shorts to children's shorts

This is probably the easiest refashion/upcycle ever.. I have 2 pairs of shorts that I bought when I was about 15 weeks pregnant with Big E and they have been sitting around for almost 6 years so it was time they were made into something else!

Take one pair of adult shorts (forgot to take a photo of them before so here they are in action):
In front of the leaning tower of Pisa with luminous white legs! Oh to look that young again....
Cut them in half up the centre seams

Place the a pair of shorts that fit the little one they are for on the adult shorts, draw round them then cut them out (remember to cut a seam allowance round the pattern and add a couple if inches to make the waist band depending on the size of elastic you are using!)

Sew the inner leg seams
Place one leg inside the other, right sides together, and sew the two legs together:

Finish the top raw edge (overlock/serge or fold over about 0.5cm and press):
Fold top over again to make a casing for the elastic (will differ in size depending on the width of elastic)
Sew the waistband leaving about 4cm to put the elastic in (I also stitched really close to the top of the shorts just to make it look a bit nicer):

Thread the elastic through the casing:
Sew up gap you left to put the elastic through.

I stretched the waistband fully then put another line of stitching round the middle to stop the elastic folding over.

I plan to decorate them using a freezer paper template and fabric paint but Big E can't decide what he wants on them!

2 comments:

  1. Alison this is BRILLIANT!!!!
    Wow you are one clever lady :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks! I may be tempting fate making 2 pairs of shorts though, I think we had about 3 weeks of shorts weather here last year!!

    ReplyDelete

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