As we have mentioned before, My Princess outgrew a lot of her clothes this year. She had hardly anything for summer for a while. Knowing how quickly she has grown this last year, I wasn’t sure if keeping her 5t clothes for this winter would work. Since she might outgrow them, I decided to go ahead and turn some of them into shorts for the summer.

I didn’t take any before pictures, but here are the finished transformations.

Even if you aren’t much of a sewer yet, turning pants into shorts can be pretty easy. It can be as simple as cutting them a couple inches longer than the length you want and then folding them up twice like I did with an old pair of her brother’s jeans. 

Or if you like the hipster look, you can just cut them off and leave them. I added a zigzag stitch of pink and a zigzag of orange around the bottom to give it a little decoration and prevent too much raveling.

This pair of leggings took a little more effort. I cut them to capri length and added a lace trim to the bottom. These were her favorite after I showed her the new shorts. They look pretty darn cute on her too.

Cutting pants into shorts yourself is a great way to have control over the length. I prefer longer shorts for myself and my girls, so if I can’t find them in the store, this is an easy alternative.