Mom's shorts to boy's pants

This project started with a pair of Bermuda-length shorts that had already been altered. I had lost some weight and taken them in at the back seam so that I could keep wearing them.  

When I lost even more weight, they were once again too big. It didn’t seem worth it to take them in again, and it was too cold for shorts, anyway, so I decided to make some pants for my son. He is 3 and growing quickly, so he could use another pair of pants. Plus, the menswear fabric was perfect for pants.

I used a boy’s pants pattern to cut out the legs of the pants. I lined the pattern pieces up to preserve the waistband, pockets, and cuff of the existing shorts. I sewed the legs together but needed to take in the waist. Since there was not enough fabric to fold over a casing for elastic, I just sewed some wide elastic to the inside of the waistband, which worked pretty well. Finally, I folded the cuffs under once and sewed them down, effectively eliminating the small slit in each side seam and creating the perfect pant-length.

My son loves the result, referring to these as his “handsome pants.” He was however, a bit reluctant to do a photo shoot - at first.

Once he got going, though, there was no stopping his crazy poses.

I am so pleased with how these came out, especially with the front pockets. I will definitely be making more "handsome pants" in the future. Thanks for reading!

Amy