Scraplog

Sewing: Turning Shorts Into A Skirt

Whenever I get ready to start a project I always take before pictures. Always. But for some reason, this time, I didn’t. I think maybe it’s because I didn’t actually think it would turn out and so I figured I wouldn’t be blogging it. But, amazingly enough, my project did turn out and so I only have the after pictures to show you. I took extra after pictures to make up for the missing befores :)

Jason had a pair of shorts lying around that neither of us could remember why we ever bought them since they have always been too big for him. They must have been a good deal, that is the only reason I can think of! So after a couple of years had passed and he still never wore them I decided to make something with them. Originally I was just going to try and alter them so they would fit Jason but then I decided to be selfish and make something for me instead! I decided to make them into a skirt for myself. Crazy, right? That’s what I thought too but it actually wasn’t as hard or time consuming as I thought.

The hardest part was the fact that the fabric had a pattern. If these had been a solid color it would have been super easy! I will walk you though step-by-step how I made it along with some pictures of me modeling the completed skirt. And yes, I am standing on top of my coffee table once again. Our armoire has the only full length mirror in our entire house!

First, I ripped out the whole crotch seam and inner leg seams. I probably wouldn’t have needed to rip all that I did but I thought I would just to be on the safe side. Then, since they were so big, rather than ripping out the exterior leg seam, I just cut it off.

Next, I straightened the inner seam and sewed each together to connect them in the front and back.

Then, I sewed new side seams on the exterior leg. To make sure it would be the right size, I pinned it first, tried it on, and then sewed it together.

(I don’t usually like to show my stomach, I only am so you can see how the top fits!)

Lastly, I zig zagged stitched any raw edges so they wouldn’t come apart. I pressed it and I was done!

I think it helped me that the original was so big to begin with. That way I had a lot of extra material to play with. Also, the shorts had pockets that were kind of like slits on the sides that I just decided to cut off. I could have made new front pockets but I figured it would take me more time than I wanted to spend.

If you end up trying something similar, I would love to see it! Now I’m going to go to my husbands closet and see what else I can steal… :)