I’ve made five pairs of pants using the Arenite pattern, and I saw on Instagram that Meg of Sew Liberated had made one of her pairs of pants into shorts. I was looking for a couple of quick makes before our trip to the Cayman Islands, and this Arenite shorts hack came together in just a few hours.

The most tedious part was figuring out how long I wanted the shorts to be and marking all the pattern pieces so they would all end up being the same length. I took a pair of Arenite pants I already had in rayon fabric, since that was the fabric I planned to use for my shorts. I marked with a pin the length I wanted for the shorts.

I added 1.5 inches seam allowance for the hem, and marked the front pattern piece for both the finished inseam length, and the length with the seam allowance. (Having the finished length marked helped me later when I was hemming.)

Then, I measured up from the “lengthen or shorten here” line on the pattern to my mark and used that distance to draw a line parallel to the lengthen/shorten line across the front pattern piece at the length I wanted the shorts to be, including the seam allowance.Based on the distance from my mark to the lengthen/shorten line on the front pattern piece, I marked lines on the other two pattern pieces. Doing the front pattern piece first eliminated any mental gymnastics I might have tried to do to figure out the side panel, which doesn’t have a place to measure down from.After the math part, I cut the pieces out and sewed the shorts following the instructions for the pants. I used fabric from my stash, originally intended for another project. I got it from The Tin Thimble on Etsy.

When you’re sewing shorts with this pattern, they come together fast because the seams are so much shorter.For the hem, I folded over a generous quarter inch and then an inch, and tacked it down with a 3.5 length stitch.

The end product is a super comfy pair of shorts I wore several days of our trip.

In the photos, you can see the side panels slope down on both sides, leaving the hem at the inside of my leg a little shorter. I went back and looked at the documentation pics I took while sewing the shorts, and the side panels were visibly longer in the middle from the beginning. I could have fixed it then, and probably didn’t because I wanted to get them done in time to bring them on the trip. I will fix it on the next pair.

Since I used a longer stitch length for the hem, it would be easy to pick it out and re-do it if I decide I can’t live with the sagging sides. For now, it doesn’t really seem worth it to fix them. I have a second pair planned with some khadi cotton and two mods I’m excited to try.

I know this post has been a fair amount of whining about tiny imperfections and boring sewing details. If you’re still here, bless your heart. If you are a sewist considering making Arenite pants into shorts, go for it. Even if you end up with sagging side panels, you will still have a bangin’ pair of shorts that you made yourself and which while they look presentable, are fantastically comfortable.

On durability: I now have six Arenites. I’ve had problems with the flat felled seams coming out on all of them. I did not pin the flat felled seams when I made the Arenites. I don’t know if that is why I had a problem, but even with these shorts there was a little section on the back of one leg (that I only discovered because I put them on backwards one day) that needed to be seam ripped, tucked under, and re-sewn.

A final note: I did go back and re-do the hems of these shorts. I’m reminded of my shortcomings on a daily basis; I prefer that my kids, not my clothing, shine a light on potential areas of growth.

I took these photos to show how much I shaved off (the before photo is on the left), but they don’t show much. If I were a little younger, I might be embarrassed to admit just how neurotic I am. I took about a half inch off the outer edge of each leg, grading out from the center of the side panel to make the hem even all the way around. It is one of those micro sewing adjustments that, for me, made all the difference. Now I just have to find time and money to go back to the Caribbean to re-take my photos.

Edited to add: I went back and did a crotch tuck on these to reduce some of the ease at the front of the shorts. Here’s a pic of the shorts with the tuck and fixed hems for posterity: If it isn’t obvious how much more fantastic they are, you’ll just have to trust me.