Bound Shorts Pattern

Get your spring and summer wardrobe ready with these cute, comfy shorts. Follow along with Ashley Hough as she shows you how to sew elastic waistband shorts using French seams.

Download the pattern for shorts with an elastic waist and print.

Shorts

Before you learn how to sew shorts with an elastic waist, Ashley gives tips for altering the pattern size. Depending on your chosen size, the shorts require between 1 and 1 ½ yards of fabric.

Ashley shows you how to stitch the front and back crotch seams separately, using a ¼” seam allowance with the wrong sides together first.

Trim the seam allowances to ⅛”. Flip the pieces so that right sides are together and stitch the seam again using a ¼” seam allowance, to encase the seam allowances. This is a French seam construction.

Stitch the shorts inseam with wrong sides together, nesting the crotch seams. Trim the seam allowance and flip with right sides together to finish the French seam construction.

Binding

Ashley demonstrates how to cut and fold bias strips for binding the shorts edges. Fold the pressed binding strip around the shorts raw edges, beginning at one shorts upper edge. Ensure the shorts raw edge meets the center of the folded bias strip as you edgestitch the binding. Ease the binding around the shorts curves until you reach the opposite upper edge. Repeat for the remaining shorts leg.

Bias Binding Length:

Small = 88″

Medium = 100″

Large = 112″

Ashley gives tips for adjusting the size of the shorts by changing the amount of overlap at the side seams. Stitch each bias strip edge to secure the shorts side seam, beginning at the upper edge and ending where the sides begin to curve outward.

Waistband

Ashley shows how to create the waistband casing using woven fabric and how to insert the elastic to finish the shorts.

Get tips and tricks for inserting elastic into a waistband or learn more about French seams.