How to make shorts from a pants pattern — Made by Rae (2024)

Frog shorts for Clementine (with flat-front waistband)

The great thing about making shorts from a pants pattern is that it IS rather simple, but one or two little issues can pop up if you just hack them off across the middle of the leg (most common: front and back inseams not matching up), so let me just walk you through the process. It is very easy!

Step 1: Draw in the seam lines on the pattern piece along the inseams, 1/2" away from the edge.

You want to draw in your seam lines on both the front and back inseams of the pant leg. The inseams are the seams that go down the leg from the crotch to the cuff or hem. For Parsley the seam allowance is 1/2," so draw them 1/2" away from the edge (but adjust this distance for different seam allowances).Sometimes I use a clear ruler so I can easily measure 1/2" away from the edge of the pattern piece, but sometimes I just estimate what 1/2" looks like and draw it in freehand. Start at the crotch and work your way down the pant leg.

Step 2: Decide how long you want your shorts to be from the crotch to the bottom, and add extra for the hem ("hem allowance").In this case, I wanted Clementine's shorts to be shorty-shorts, and some of her other pairs are about 2.75" long from crotch to the hem. The hem allowance of the Parsley Pant Pattern is 2", so:

Length of shorts (2.75") + hem allowance (2") = Total length of pattern below inseam (4.75")

For boys' shorts, I like the inseam a little longer. Elliot's moon shorts are 6" long below the inseam, so that would be: 6" + 2" = 8" long total.

Step 3: Measure that distance (from Step 2) down the seam lines on the pattern piece.

Start at the crotch and measure down the pant leg along the seam lines you drew in, then make a mark at that point (for me that was 4" below the crotch). Do this for the front inseam AND the back inseam.

{Some of you may be thinking, why not just measure down the edge of the pattern piece instead of going through the trouble of drawing in the seam lines and measuring along those? In this (Parsley Pants) case, the back crotch point has its point cut off to reduce bulk (do you see how the back is less pointy than the front at the crotch point?) so some of that inseam edge is missing. If you measured along this edge, therefore, the front would come out about 1/2" longer than the back.}

Step 4: Connect the dots.

Using a ruler, draw a straight line across the pattern piece from the front mark to the back mark. This will be the bottom of your new (SHORTS!) pattern piece.

Step 5: Trace the new pattern piece.

I personally do not enjoy printing out copious numbers of pattern pages and taping them together over and over. Not only is it tedious; it’s wasteful. So I tend to just trace the size or outline I need and then fold up the original pattern page and file it away (see my post on organizing patterns over here!). The advantage of this is that you can use it again and again!

Don't forget to label the size and add any pattern markings you need!

OK, so now you have a new shorts pattern piece! Now you can cut your fabric and sew the shorts together; instructions for this can be found in any basic pant or shorts pattern (including my Parsley Pants pattern). Plus, I'll be back again soon with another post on basic shorts/pants construction and how to sew strong seams that will last. So stay tuned! (UPDATED: Click here for the "Super Seams" post!)

PS. You can get a copy of the Parsley Pants pattern right here!