When summer comes and it gets hot, many people put their pants, often jeans, in a drawer and put on sarafans, dresses, shorts. Sometimes after several seasons, jeans get boring or get damaged in different places, get old. A reasonable question arises: how to make shorts from old jeans with your own hands. This material will tell you how to sew shorts from old jeans, how to hem and unsew shorts.
Choosing Jeans to Make Shorts
As a rule, to sew denim shorts, they do not choose much and use old and torn pants. However, when approaching this more seriously, you always need to take care that the result is a beautiful and fashionable product. There are several basic tips for choosing:
- If your old jeans are loose around the waist, your shorts will be baggy;
- If the jeans were and remain tight, the shorts may also be tight. This will not look very nice, as the legs will be squeezed in the lower parts. You can get rid of this, but the hemming process will take more time;
- You should not sew or hem jeans made of stretch materials into shorts, as when cutting, the threads or fabrics will “fall out”, which will create discomfort;
- Pure denim pants are ideal. This is because they are straight cut, do not hug the legs too tightly and do not hang loosely. This is exactly what you need for sewing shorts that will be true to size.
Important! Cotton denim fabrics of any color can also be used for sewing. They are almost ideal for this, and the process of their manufacture often begins and ends with cutting the trousers to the desired length. The products can be both children's and adults'.
Options for shorts from old jeans
There are many options on how to extend the life of denim pants by decorating them or turning them into shorts. This section contains some of the best examples of alterations:
- Short products;
- Bermuda;
- Classic;
- Capri.
Short shorts
Making cropped shorts from jeans is a great idea, as they are one of the most fashionable items in women's summer wardrobes in many countries. Modern fashion emphasizes wear and tear, so old trousers are ideal for making. You can make a great item for yourself, your daughter or a doll.
Before cutting, you need to put on jeans and mark the places where it will be done. This can be the middle of the thigh or the upper part. Such products often have fringe at the ends. That is why the cutting line is moved a couple of centimeters lower.
The cut should be made so that the garment has the shape of the letter "V". After the cut, the fringe should be formed. This is done manually or after washing in a machine.
Bermudas
This look is ideally obtained from loose pants. The process here is the same: put on, measure the cutting line. If the Bermudas have folded edges, then there is no need to "gut" them, and the cutting line should be moved even further so that there is room for the fold. In the final look, the length of the pants should reach the knees.
Classic shorts
The simplest option. Its length should not exceed the length of Bermuda shorts. Classic shorts should have edges just above the knee. Before cutting the legs, you should carefully consider the future appearance of the clothes. Cutting should be done on a flat surface along a line marked with a pencil or chalk. It is worth noting that oblique cuts in the shape of a "V" are not suitable for classics.
Capri
This type is the longest, as its edges reach the beginning of the calf muscles. They are somewhat reminiscent of narrow breeches. No fringe or cutouts are made in them. The edges of the legs are designed in the form of cuffs or folds.
Step-by-step instructions for reworking
This instruction is suitable for remaking any pants into shorts. It provides help in determining the length of the future product, the technique of even cutting and processing the edge.
Determining the length and markings
The question of how to hem denim shorts correctly is not yet closed. The process consists of trying on, cutting and decorating. Before cutting, you need to wash the pants. This is not necessary, but recommended. Although the product will "shrunk", which will make it difficult to hem and determine the desired length, it will prepare the fabric well for a new life. You need to wash in the usual mode or in the one in which the clothes were often washed.
Important! To make jeans fit well again after washing and not squeeze, you need to put them on and walk around the apartment for at least an hour. Only after that does the length determination begin.
The following lengths are popular among fashionistas:
- Shortened;
- Bermuda;
- Capri;
- Average.
The younger and slimmer the girl, the more she can cut. For women over 30, Bermudas and capris are more suitable. A boy can also make such shorts, but not short ones. The male version (even for a child) assumes a strict style.
It is also worth noting that it has become fashionable to wear shorts with huge pockets hanging from underneath. Whether to take them in, hide them or leave them as they are is up to the person to decide. Once the length is determined, you need to mark the cut line with a marker, pencil, chalk or pins.
Straight cut
The next step is trimming. To do it evenly and beautifully, you need to follow certain rules. It is best to use sharp and sharpened tailor's scissors. Regular ones will not work, they will jam during cutting.
As already mentioned, it is best to mark even lines on yourself. To do this, put on the trousers and mark the places where the cut will be. After that, take off the trousers and cut in the right places. To make the length of the legs equal, for each of them, determine the distance from the crotch to the cut.
Edge
There are also some tips after pruning:
- If there is fringe on the edges, then the length should be longer;
- Seam allowances are required for classic style shorts;
- In cases of hemming, it is worth leaving up to 7 centimeters for turning up, folds and finishing.
All of this is edge work and involves additional processing of the leg edges, regardless of their type. Jeans with fringe, as well as with cuffs or turn-ups, require edge processing. The formation of various edges and decorations is discussed in the next section.
Methods of decoration
The most popular way of decoration is fringe. To create it, you will need tools that are in every home. One way is to throw the item in the washing machine, but this may not give a 100% result. In addition, people paint things, decorate them with embroidery, lace and rhinestones, tuck them.
Torn edges
To decorate with torn edges and fringe, you need to take sharp scissors, blades or a knife, and then follow the instructions:
- Fold one leg in half and cut horizontally several times;
- Pull out the cross fibers from the fabric;
- When a hole is formed, pull out more threads along the edges.
Additionally, the threads can be profiled using tweezers. Fringe works well on cotton and denim jeans. It is more difficult than simply rolling up the leg, but also more beautiful.
Painting
An original method called "ombre". It involves gradient coloring. The process begins after cutting and involves coloring with dry paint of one or more shades.
A small amount of dye should be diluted in warm water and part of the product should be placed there for a couple of minutes. After that, the shorts are taken out and another part of the dye is diluted in water. The color becomes more saturated. The legs are lowered to a shorter length. As a result, a gradient pattern of different shades is obtained.
Another option involves painting the entire item at once. To do this, dilute the dye in water and add a couple of spoons of salt, pouring it all into the washing machine. The shorts are washed in it, which are then rinsed in water with vinegar. This will fix the paint on the fabric more reliably.
Using lace and rhinestones
Quite an interesting way of decorating. The combination of denim and lace looks stylish, and the decoration process does not take much time. In general, the process contains the following points:
- The lace material is cut into strips the length of the pocket;
- Sewn on top of the pockets;
- Rhinestones are attached to the edges of the pockets using glue or rivets.
Important! If desired, lace can also be sewn to the bottom and edges. Rhinestones can be an independent element of clothing design.
Embroidery decoration
Beautiful embroidery on fabric and appliques will also be a good solution in decoration. If the latter is not difficult to sew and stick, then embroidering on jeans is not an activity for beginners. For this, you will need threads of different colors, beads, rhinestones and an idea for decoration.
In addition, how to sew shorts from jeans, there are many ways to return them to "life", but this is one of the most original. With these actions, you can get several types of "new" clothes from trousers for every taste, which are very easy to sew.
