Featured Fabric: Henry Glass Fabrics Sweet Bees by Barb Tourtillotte

Pattern design by: Lindsay Conner

Sewn by: Lindsay Conner

We have a simple and fun DIY refashion for you! If you have some old jeans laying around that are too short or just aren’t cutting it any more, why not turn them into a cute pair of shorts? These jean shorts are upcycled from full-length jeans, and I’ve added a cute fabric cuff and side knot.

This tutorial is inspired by a similar upcycle at Make It & Love It, but I’ve used a simpler method for finishing the cuff. Follow this easy, step-by-step tutorial to create some sweet-as-honey jean shorts for your wardrobe!

P.S. I’ve made a coordinating patchwork zipper pouch, so stay tuned at the end of this tutorial for advice on how to make that.

Skills Learned: Machine sewing

Skill Level: Beginner

Finished Size: Varies

Fabric Requirements:

1/2 yard (.46m) quilting fabric. I used 1770-99 Black - Gray Leaves for this tutorial.

-       Additional jean prints as pictured used 1765-44 Gold - Bee Bumble Toss and 1766-93 Multi – Mosaic

-       Pouch includes all SKUs listed above as well as: 1769-90 Gray – Honeycomb

Any pair of jeans

Materials:

Sewing machine

Scissors

Rotary cutter, ruler, and mat

Sewing clips and pins

Directions

1. Find some longer jeans that you want to turn into jean shorts and choose a 1/2-yard cut of quilting cotton to match. Some jeans have more of a blue tone and some have more gray to them—match your fabrics according to your preference!

2. Use scissors or a rotary cutter and ruler to cut off the length of the jeans that you’d like. You can try them on at this stage to make sure they fit right and that both sides are even.

3. Use a ruler to measure the width of the flattened jean short cuff as pictured. To get the measurement for your cut fabric, take this number (J) and multiply by 2, then add 11.5”. This is the width of your cut fabric. The height of your cut fabric is 5”.

J (jean cuff width = 9") x 2 = 18” + 11.5” = 29.5”

Cut your fabric 29.5” wide x 5” tall.

4. Cut two fabric strips using the dimensions above—one for each side of the shorts.

5. Take one fabric strip, and fold both short raw ends over by 1/2” as pictured. Press. Keeping those folds, next fold the strip in half widthwise and press. (A)

Unfold, and refold each of the long raw edges in to meet the center line. Press. (B)

Next, fold the corners in to meet the center line. Press. Repeat on both ends. (C)

Fold the strap in half so all the raw edges are trapped inside the four-fold strap. Press. (D)

Repeat steps (A)-(D) with the other strip to make 2.

6. Use scissors to carefully snip a segment 1” tall and 1/2” wide from the outer seam of both sides of the jean shorts. This is just enough room to allow you to stitch your binding on the cuffs and tie a knot with the extra.

7. Mark the horizontal center of the fabric strap with a sewing pin. Line up the part you pinned with the inner seam of your jean shorts on one side. Insert the raw edge of the jeans cuff into the fabric strip, adding sewing clips as you go.

8. Continue adding sewing clips to the fabric around the jeans cuff, clipping in place. Make sure there is an equal amount of excess fabric on both sides for tying.

9. Repeat with the second jean cuff and fabric strip.

10. Take the jean shorts to the sewing machine and sew down the fabric cuff 1/8” from the clipped edge all the way around. I started in the center, and went all the way to one end.

11. As you sew around the cuff, you’ll finish sewing around the jeans cuff and will be sewing through the pointed end of the fabric strip only. Backstitch and cut off the extra threads. Return to the sewing machine and sew from the center of the fabric strip to the other end, backstitching and cutting off the extra threads.

12. This is what your jean cuff will look like after it is stitched on one side. Repeat with the other jean cuff!

13. Tie the pointed fabric ends into a double knot. Isn’t it adorable?

We hope you enjoyed this fun epicycle project using just a bit of quilting fabric and an old pair of jeans! If you’re ready to DIY your summer wardrobe, this is just the right project for you. Adding a fabric cuff with a side knot is SEW easy and fun!

Coordinating Patchwork Zipper Pouch

To make the patchwork zipper pouch, I’ve followed the basic tutorial for the Jazzy Pouch at the SIY blog. For my patchwork outer panel, I’ve sewn together (30) 2.5” squares in a 6 x 5 grid. Then, I placed them on a scrap of quilt batting and quilted corner to corner through all of the squares. After trimming the panel, it measures about 11 x 13”. I then followed the rest of the steps from the Jazzy Pouch tutorial to add a zipper and box the corners. Go forth and sew one for yourself!

Fabric Details:

To view the complete Sweet Bees collection, click here.

Learn more about Lindsay here.