Okay, here’s my experience of making women’s drawstring jean shorts:
So, I decided to make some drawstring jean shorts. I’d been seeing them everywhere and figured, why not give it a try? I had some old jeans lying around that I never wear, perfect for an upcycling project. First thing I did was try on the jeans and marked where I wanted the shorts to hit. I wanted a mid-thigh length, nothing too crazy.
After marking, I took a deep breath and cut the jeans. I made sure to cut a little longer than my mark, just in case. You can always cut more off, but you can’t put it back on! Then, I tried them on again to make sure I liked the length.
Next up was creating the waistband. I carefully cut off the original waistband from the jeans, being careful not to damage it too much. Then, I used a seam ripper to open up the top edge of the waistband. This was a bit tedious, but necessary to insert the drawstring later.
- I folded the raw edge of the shorts inward twice to create a clean hem and pinned it in place.
- Then, I sewed the hem down using a straight stitch on my sewing machine.
- Next, I took the opened waistband and measured out where I needed to cut it to fit the new shorts.
- I also made sure to create openings on both ends of the waistband for the drawstring to go through.
After the waistband was ready, I reattached it to the shorts, pinning it carefully and sewing it back on. This was probably the trickiest part, making sure everything lined up nicely. Once the waistband was on, I took a piece of elastic and cut it to my waist size, adding a few extra inches for comfort. I used a safety pin to thread the elastic through the waistband, and then I sewed the ends of the elastic together. Then, I added a drawstring made from a cute braided cord I found at the fabric store, threading it through the same openings in the waistband.
Finishing Touches
I tied knots at the ends of the drawstring to prevent it from fraying. Finally, I gave the shorts a good once-over, trimming any loose threads and making sure everything looked neat. And there you have it, a brand-new pair of drawstring jean shorts made from old jeans! They’re super comfy and perfect for summer. I even added some cute iron-on patches to personalize them a bit. I’m pretty happy with how they turned out, and it was a fun project to do.
