Sewplicity: TUTORIAL: From Pants to Adorable Shorts

This tutorial is not new....I've done it before....but it is a useful one, so I thought it was worth re-visiting for those of you who are new to my blog, or just haven't seen it yet.

Anyone who has little ones knows the pain of the season change. Out with the old, rebuild the wardrobe with the new. This little trick can save you a few bucks and provide your child with a fun pair of shorts.

We're making a pair of jeans that were worn all winter (and still fit in the waist), into a fun pair of ruffled shorts for the summer.

I started by letting my daughter pick what fabric she wanted me to use for the ruffle. I can't tell you how excited she was to do this! After much deliberation, she ended up choosing this black, pink & blue print from Michael Miller (Black Mod Flourish).

MEAURE & CUT THE PANTS
Decide what length you want the shorts to be. I wanted these to come right above the knee.

Then decide how wide you want your ruffle to be.

Remember when cutting the pants, you need to factor in the width of the finished ruffle (minus your seam allowance) to get the length you decided on.

TIP: When cutting the pants, fold them on the side seam making sure the waist band is even all the way around. This will help you get an even cut.

MAKE & ADD THE RUFFLE
Refer to the tutorial on how to do this. I used a 1.5" ruffle which meant I cut the fabric strips 3" wide and pressed them in half (you will read how to do this in the tutorial).

TIP: To easily and accurately determine the final length of the ruffle, you can use the leg piece you cut off. Cut along the length of the inside seam so you can open it up completely and and measure across. Then add in your seam allowance x 2.

This saves you from having to pull out your tape measure. This measured 12", so I knew my final ruffle needed to be 13" long (I used a 1/2" seam allowance.)

You can make the ruffle any way you choose (ruffler foot, serger, by hand). I used my serger this time.