One Yard Summer Shorts {tutorial}

I felt like a challenge today and I only had one yard of fabric to do it in so I took a stab at shorts!

To my joy & surprise they turned out!

Here's how I did it:

Here's what you'll need:

1 yard of fabric (for a size 2 short)

scissors

paper

pen

pins

sewing machine/serger

measuring tape

elastic band

old pair of shorts to go off of

I started out with an old pair of shorts that have seen better days and I cut them up. This gave me the general shape and sizes needed for the shorts. Remember that the cut up pair doesn't account for folding/ironing, seaming, etc. You'll want to add extra width and length in those areas.

I created a paper template out of the cut up shorts, again, adding extra to the top and bottom as well as the seams.

Here's what they look like cut out.

Then I lined up the back two pieces, placing the fabric RIGHT sides together and stitched just down the curve. Repeat with the front two sides.

I used a serger so the seam looks like this.

And here they are again...just wanted to be thorough ;)

Then with the WRONG side facing down open up the leg portion as shown above.

Place the other piece RIGHT sides together on top lining up the leg seam. Here's where I noticed that my front and back pieces weren't the same length so I evened them out.

Stitch a seam down both leg sides (one continuous stitch).

Then I noticed the tops weren't even either so I trimmed off the extra at the top.

I pinned down the sides of the shorts and stitched them.

You can see it coming together!

I turned them right side out and determined how short I wanted them to be. I folded them inward twice and ironed in place.

Then I stitched a seam around both legs.

For the top I ironed down about 1/4" of an inch and then again a little bigger than my elastic band, see below...

I stitched the top down leaving a small opening to slide in the elastic.

This is were you decide how tight you want it to be and cut the elastic accordingly.

Putting a safety pin on one end I pushed the elastic in and around the top.

Once it comes out the other end you can stitch the two ends together and tuck the whole thing up into the top.

Stitch off the opening.

Here's them so far!

To make the sash take two strips of fabric 5 1/2"x 36" and seam them together making it 72" long. Iron in the sides 1/4".

Iron the sash in half and then bring in the corners as shown. Stitch to close.

Line up the shorts on the sash to determine where the bow will go. I like my off to the side a bit.

Pin it to the back and stitch in place.

And there you have it!

If you've got questions just ask!

Happy Crafting!