Bandana shorts!

Today was a rainy-stay-inside-and-make-crafts day. Inspired by a post on fb, I decided to make bandana shorts for the kids. They were surprisingly easy to make and we already had a bunch of red bandanas left over from Heather’s cowgirl birthday party. We used the bandanas for a mother goose play too, and now we made shorts out of them! Bandanas seem to be a useful thing to have around. There are a few left that I’m going to try and make matching pillow-case dress tops for the girls out of.

So, here’s how to make the shorts:

Materials needed:
Bandanas (two bandanas for one pair of shorts)
Ruler, scissors, iron, elastic, something to sew with.


Pattern for cutting crotch out. Make a 10" by 2" pattern. pencil the pattern onto the bandana to cut.

Take two bandanas, put right sides together, and try and match up the corners. The bandanas aren’t perfectly square, so just do the best you can matching them up.

Fold the bandanas in half. Cut a 2inch by 10inch long crotch off the corner.

Sew the crotch’s together.

Open it up, and then sew the inseams together.

Fold the top over and iron it in place.

sew the top leaving a small gap in the front to get the elastic waistband through.

measure elastic waistband to fit your child. Use a pin to pull it through the folded top.

Sew the elastic ends together, or attach a button / button holes for an adjustable waistband.

Wha-la! You now have a pair of bandana shorts! I gave each hem a double seam for durability. For little Autumn I folded the top over a bit more to shorten it. As you sew, pay attention to the patterns in the material. Try and make the patterns line up. For extra bling, sew the seams flat with a decorative zig-zag stich. It is a nice light-weight fabric - great for those hot summer days. Enjoy!