There aren’t a lot of tween and teen sized patterns out there compared to adult and kid patterns. It’s easy to find patterns with sizes that will fit your kids from baby age through age 10, but after that, the options dwindle. Plus, who wants to buy a pattern and make clothes only to have your moody tween stick up their nose at your efforts?

After my firstborn outgrew my kids’ shorts pattern, I drafted a bigger size for him for a couple of years, but then he stopped wearing them, so I stopped making them.

My ten and a half year old daughter recently outgrew the kids’ pattern, but she still likes the handmade shorts, so I decided to use the free women’s shorts pattern I use for my own shorts to make something that would work for her.

The result is comfy, modest shorts that my daughter loves. And as she grows, I can keep adjusting the fit.

I had my daughter put on a pair of my own shorts, and made notes on where I would need to take them in for a good fit. I took the pattern in an inch on the straight edge of both the back and the front pattern pieces (this removed 4 inches from the finished shorts). I took the rise down by about an inch and a half at the top of both pattern pieces. The length (the free pattern plus two inches added, which I talked about in this post) ended up staying the same.

I made a tracing of the adjusted pattern on freezer paper, noting her waist measurement for the elastic.

Like I do for my own shorts, I sew a seam on the top and the bottom of the elastic casing.

Unless I’m making racer style shorts, I finish the hem by folding under a quarter inch, then a half inch, and finishing the seam with an elongated stitch (3.5 – 4.0 stitch length).

Because you don’t hem the racer shorts, they end up being a little longer, which I like. If you wanted to keep the same length as the hemmed version of the shorts, you could add less length to the pattern (1.25 in. instead of 2 in. of additional length).

Using the new pattern, I’ve made all my favorite shorts variations.

Shown in the image at the top, there are the pockets with trim, racer style shorts with homemade shot cotton bias tape, and wishbone pocket shorts. The shorts she is pictured wearing are special ones she picked the fabric for herself.

If you don’t have the pattern for kid shorts and you have kids in the size range, it’s a good deal. That’s where I got my wishbone pocket pattern piece, but you could also draft your own.

Having an older kid who stills wears the clothes I make her gives me a kick. I hope I can keep her interested by continuing to make shorts that fit her well in fun fabric combinations.