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Sunday, June 26, 2016

DIY High-Waisted Shorts

I just got back from a two week vacation overseas, and I returned home to realize that it is roughly one million degrees outside. And that's really great because I adore mega-heat and 1000% humidity (note my heavy sarcasm).

So, just like any other summer, I've taken part in my yearly ritual, which is to take some old and/or secondhand jeans and turn them into some shorts. Because ain't nobody got time for jeans in this kind of weather.


DIY High Waisted Shorts

I've talked about making shorts from old jeans in the past (namely in this post, which goes into more detail about this process), and it such a simple activity that sometimes I think it hardly bears mentioning. But here I am, cause ya girl wanted to make a post on this lonely blog of hers.

DIY High Waisted Shorts

The high-waisted trend has been around for a couple years now, and I've only been partaking in it for about a year and a half, but I can honestly say that I hope it sticks around. There's something about looking like a 90's soccer mom with pants up to her ribcage that I find completely endearing, and I mean that with complete honesty and affection. In the case of these shorts though, I don't think that my 90's mom self would really approve of rocking them because warning: I made mine pretty short.

I've found that the trick to making these shorts (or to even finding high waisted jeans) is to hit up your local goodwill and peruse all the sizes in the racks. I pay most attention to the size of the waistband and compare it to my own natural waist, which is different than shopping for jeans that will fit your hips, so just ignore the numbers. Mom jeans are much more forgiving in terms of sizing, I feel. Also, the easiest way to find mom jeans at a glance is to look at the zipper. Is the zipper as long as your whole hand? Then there's a good chance you'll be zipping those pants up to your eyeballs. Zipper only as long as your palm? Try again, compadre-- you're in weird mid-rise territory.

DIY High Waisted Shorts

Once I found the pair pictured here, I started just like I would with any pair of pants that I would want to make into shorts. First, I tried them on and marked with a pin where I wanted my shorts to come down to. It's important to try the shorts on, rather  than just laying another pair of shorts on top of them and marking them that way, because the rise of these pants is going to affect the length of the shorts.

After trying them on and marking the length, I took them off, added an additional 1.5 inches of length so that I could cuff them, and chopped off one leg. I also cut them at a slight angle, just for funsies.

DIY High Waisted Shorts

Next, I folded the shorts over and chopped the second leg off in the same fashion. I told you, this is a super easy project.

DIY High Waisted Shorts

The last thing I did was to just cuff the shorts up, tack down cuffs with a few whip stitches, and call it a day. Simple, quick, and mildly tackily cute.

I actually have another pair of shorts that I still need to do this to, so I should probably get on that soon.... Guess that's my cue to go be productive!



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5 comments:

  1. Love this tutorial! I'm going to try it with an old pair of boyfriend jeans that are too big.

    Arielle from Casual 'n Couture

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  2. So cute! And I am loving the print on your top! Very 90's soccer mom all around with a super cool modern twist! Not tacky at all, but rather quite fabulous!

    Shelbee
    http://www.shelbeeontheedge.com/my-old-navy-rewards-haul-and-a-link-up/

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  3. The high rise you mention here is your natural waist measurement. Yeah, I never stopped wearing my "high risers" cause I just pulled the top over the waist. Now I can go back to tucking in and wearing a belt! Guessing your whole life, britches have been down on the hips. You've got a cute blog here and I love your "voice" in your writing. Hope you have time to do more posts. Great job! Found you over at Diane Rambles.

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