Creative articles about sewing

Shortening Kids’ Pants – From Long to Short

Good morning, dear friends! Today’s tutorial is all about shortening kids’ pants. Instead of sewing new ones from scratch, we’re giving worn-out or damaged long pants a second life by turning them into cool summer shorts. This is a quick and practical upcycling method—perfect for pants with holes or thin fabric around the knees. I’ll show you how easy it is to transform them while giving each pair a unique look.

Shortening kids' pants

Materials Overview

You will need:

  • Kids’ jeans with holes for upcycling projects
  • Patches and labels as needed
  • Thread used: Denim Doc by Amann Mettler

Shortening kids' pants

In the jeans, the hole was unfortunately positioned right on the seam of the pleats, and the blue pants — which is hard to see here — had many small holes, making the fabric around the knee very thin. One of the holes was quite high up, so I decided to add a patch along with shortening.

First, if your patch is iron-on, press it onto the hole of the shorts according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Since I know it doesn’t last long for my boys, I secure it by stitching around it as well. For this, I remove the extension table to use the free arm. I lower the feed dogs and attach the Quilting Foot #29, which makes it easy to sew all around the patch.

Image of Quilting Foot #29.

Quilting Foot #29

For topstitching quilts with thick and thin padding ✓  For contour quilting, thread painting and meander quilting ✓  Clear view of the quilting project ✓  For 5.5 mm and 9 mm machines ✓ 

Learn more

Shortening kids' pants

Shortening Kids’ Pants

Next, fold the legs twice up to the desired length and press well. Then sew a narrow topstitch all around. For these pants, I didn’t have matching Denim Doc thread, so I used regular sewing thread, which worked well too.

I did the same for the jeans, using denim thread. I like to sew over the seam twice for extra durability.

Shortening kids' pants

If you want to give the shorts a unique look, you can also add a label or similar decoration on the hem.

Congratulations, your shortened shorts are ready! We think they look casual and cool, and the boys love wearing them.

Shortening kids' pants

Especially if it was a favorite pair of pants that must not disappear, this is a great way to keep wearing them through the summer.

I wish you lots of fun reducing your holey pants pile!

Warmly,
Sara

Difficulty level: Beginner
Time to Complete: Evening
Used Material: Jeans, label, old jeans
Used Products:
Quilting Foot #29
Quilting Foot #29

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