How to Easily Take in Shorts in 3 Quick Steps (Even With Pockets)

Tools and materials:

• Shorts
• Ruler
• Scissors
• Safety pins
• Seam ripper
• Weights

1. Cut along the side seams

Turn your shorts inside out and then cut along the side seams. Take your scissors and be very careful not to cut the pocket off. Do the same both sides.

2. Cut the fabric

Take your ruler and cut 2 inches (5cm), but add a 0.5 inch (1cm) seam allowance, so you’re really cutting off 1.5 inches off the fabric.

I got this measurement by wearing the shorts and using safety pins to determine how much I needed to take in. I suggest you do the same thing to know how much you need to cut off.

Tip: Place weights on your shorts so that they don’t move around when you’re cutting them.

3. Adjust the pockets

Take off the pockets with your seam ripper after you’re done cutting the side seams. Cut the pockets to turn them into side pockets.

Before it was a different type of pocket that didn’t really work out for the resize, so I cut it in two layers, and then I’m going to attach it to the front side of the shorts.

Lay your shorts right side facing you, and you’re going to do a topstitch by sewing along the side. Sew in one layer of the pocket to the front, and then you’re going to repeat it in all four sizes, and the last thing is that you lay the front and the back together, and pin it.

Go right ahead and topstitch, and if you have a serger even better because you have a cleaner finish.

How to take in shorts tutorial

And that is how you can downsize a pair of shorts. It is a quick and easy transformation.

If you’re having troubles, it could be because of the fabric and the construction of the pockets. You don’t have to keep the pockets when you resize. If it starts looking too bulky, get rid of them.

I’m so happy that I didn’t have to get rid of the shorts but could adjust them, and now they fit me really well.