Cute and Easy DIY Shorts Tutorial for Beginners

Tools and materials:

• At least one meter of fabric
• The pattern from this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sp1kBNrVN74&t=0s
• 8-10 inch zipper (visible or invisible)
• Pins
• Scissors
• Tailor’s chalk or pen
• Sewing machine

Iron and fold the material

I ironed my material so it would be flat and easy to work with. Then I folded it in half, with the back of the fabric facing itself.

Pin down the facing patterns

I pinned the facing pieces onto the fabric with the straight edges of the pattern pieces level with the fold.

Pin the patterns for the front and back of the shorts 

Using the print of the fabric as a guide to keep the pieces straight, I pinned down the front and back pattern pieces for the shorts. 

Cut the fabric

I then cut out all my pattern pieces and marked all the notches in the pattern. 

Mark the darts

Once the pieces were cut, I marked where the darts will be on both sides of the fabric.

Pin the front and back pattern pieces together

I laid the front pattern on top of the back pattern, with the right sides of the fabric facing each other, and the wrong side facing out. 

 Using the notches as my guide, I pinned the side seams together.

I made sure to leave a gap for the zipper on the left side leg of the shorts.

Sew the side seams

Leaving a seam allowance of one centimeter (half an inch), I sewed up the side seams on both legs of the shorts. 

Pin and sew the seam on the inside of the leg

I pinned and sewed the seam on the inside of each leg, leaving a one centimeter (half an inch) seam allowance.

Iron the seams

Once the inner and outer leg seams were sewn, I ironed them flat.

Pin the leg pieces together

Aligning the seams of the inner legs with each other, I pinned them together, then continued to pin the two leg pieces together the whole way around, making sure the notches matched up.

Sew the leg pieces together

Once everything was pinned, I sewed the pieces together, leaving a one centimeter (half an inch) seam allowance.

Sew the darts

To make the darts, I sewed an angled line down from the dart notches to the marks I had made previously with tailor’s chalk. Make sure to create darts on both legs, in both the front and back of the shorts.

Pin and sew the facing pieces

I then laid my two facing pieces together, with the patterned sides facing each other, and the wrong side facing me. I pinned and sewed only the right side of the facing, leaving the left side open for the zipper.

Pin in the zipper

I pinned each side of the zipper into place on the shorts, starting at the top and working my way down. In addition to pinning, I highly recommend tacking the zipper to hold it in place while you sew. 

Sew in the zipper

Once everything was tacked in place, I sewed in the zipper, using the zipper foot on my sewing machine.

After sewing in the zipper, I zipped it closed to make sure it was even on both sides.

Pin and sew the facing into the shorts

I pinned the facing and the shorts together using the notches as a guide, making sure the right sides of the fabric were facing each other. I then sewed the facing into the shorts, leaving a one centimeter (half an inch) seam allowance.

Sew the seam allowance to the facing

I sewed the seam allowance at the top of the shorts onto the facing to hold the facing in place. I tried to keep my stitches as close to the waist seam as possible. 

Cover the zipper with the facing

I folded the facing on top of the zipper, making sure the print of the fabric was facing down, and sewed it into place. I used the zipper foot on my sewing machine, and tried to keep my stitches as close as possible to the zipper.

Cut off the excess zipper

I cut off the extra bits of the zipper to get rid of the bulk, and then tested it once more to make sure it zips evenly. 

Hem the shorts

I folded over one centimeter (half an inch) of the hem and ironed it flat, and then folded it again--this time two centimeters (one inch)--and again ironed it flat.

I sewed up the hem, getting as close to the edge as I could. 

You may notice I left the edges of the fabric raw, which I chose to do because the fabric I used doesn’t really fray. However, if you’re using a fabric that will fray, I recommend overlocking the edges, or using bias binding. Once everything was completed, I ironed the shorts, and they were ready to wear!

Let me know what you think of my tutorial!