turning trousers into shorts

ellie14

In the Next sale all trousers were 3£ couldnt find any shorts or cut offs ,young daughter suggested buying suitable pants £3 and cutting them to size.Hope it works ,but where do I start to cut ,how much hem to allow and how to measure.I have a sewing machine not fancy though.

greentomato

Do you have any shorts that you can use as a template? If you already have some shorts that you like the length of then you can use them as a guide for the length of these ones. This is what I do for DH's shirts - when he wears out the elbows, I turn them into short sleeved shirts, and use another short-sleeved shirt as a template for the length of sleeves.

The length of hem really depends on the material the trousers are made of, heavier fabrics tend to have deeper hems. Check what length hem the trousers have at the moment and use that as a guide, if you unpick the hem a bit you can measure how much material has been left for the hem and see how its been turned up.

Hope thats a bit helpful, have to go now as DD is pulling the desk apart!!

Lucie_2

Always under-estimate the amount you need to cut off. That way if it's not enough you can go a bit shorter, but if you cut off too much you can't put it back on!
You don't even need to sew round the bottoms, I have become a firm fan of iron on wundaweb for trouser hems in the last year or so.

ellie14

Thanks am definitely going to have a go ,cant lose really ,theres no shorts in the shops were I live and I have been invited to Marbella for a holiday ,let you know how I get on with the sissors.