The Monthly Make: Upcycling Shorts With Gathered Fabric FAIL

Well, my friends. It’s not very often I admit defeat but in this case, my end result was a bit of a slap in the face. These are absolutely darling on the hanger and laying flat on my bed all styled and cute. However, I put them on and… no.

Just alllll around no.

A fail is never truly a fail in my book but regardless, let’s talk about these upcycled shorts and where I went wrong.

Table of Contents

The Inspiration

Admittedly, I have had these shorts in my private pinterest board for well over two years now. While I was at the Goodwill bins a few weeks ago, I found the perfect pair of shorts to try this look on! They’re baggy, the wash is perfectly summer, and the fit is mom jeans circa 1990s. All for roughly one dollar.

I burn, I pine. I parish!

We’re off to a grand start. Right?

The Fabric

I’m still moving into Ad’s place so only half of my fabric stash has made it here. I decided to go with a fun yellow fabric I picked up on the clearance rack at JoAnn’s years ago. Another win!

I held this fabric against my skin tone so many times before cutting and maybe that should have been a red flag.

The Process

The process was kind of funny. It took me a minute to remember how to bunch fabric. It even took me a minute to remember that it’s called a gather. 😄

My biggest struggle was deciding the length of the hem. I went with a shorter edge because I’m short and a longer hem would have looked even more silly. I went with a 2.75 inch length and a 1/4 inch seam allowance. I actually love the length… just not the final outcome.

The Fail and How to Fix it

The truth? These genuinely look like clown shorts on me. I don’t know exactly what went wrong but it’s either the color, the concept, or a combination of both. They are simply not me.

What I’d like to try next is this same technique but with a lovely lace trim instead. My original goal was to save these shorts from the landfill and whoever owned them previously cut them quite aggressively at the back. I have a backside on me and that’s reason enough to want a little more coverage!

This is still a win though. I learned a lot and honestly this gathered hem would look absolutely adorable on a little girl’s pair of shorts or as a detail on a baby doll style dress. I’m not done thinking about this one and I’m determined to find a way to save these shorts. They’re so comfortable!

I also want to note how proud of myself I am, even with the clown shorts outcome. It’s been really hard to make sewing a priority over the past two years and I’m so glad to be getting back into it. This has been such a fun start.

And this whole project cost a whopping two dollars and fifty cents, maximum. Thread from a thrift store bundle, leftover fabric from my stash, and one dollar shorts. Not bad!

I hope you’re enjoying these little sewing adventures and will stick around next month to see what I make next. Let me know what you think and what you’re working on in the comments below!

xoxo