I finished these shorts back in June, but with all of the travel we planned over the summer I never got around to posting about them! At the start of this summer, I took a look through my closet and realized I was seriously lacking in shorts. Since I work from home now, I like to wear casual pieces during the day, and with temperatures reaching the 90s and our home not having central AC, I knew shorts were going to be a necessity.

I had previously made a pair of the Spring Shorts from Peppermint Magazine, but I wanted to change them up a bit. The last time I made them, I used the size 14 which was honestly a little too large. I ended up sizing the pattern down to an 8, but I left the length of the 14 and didn’t use the leg bands again. As far as the style went, this time around I created exposed pockets instead of traditional ones, which are honestly even easier to put in and use less fabric (tip if you are running short on fabric!). I also changed the waistband to create two channels that I installed elastic into instead of one large waistband.

The shorts took two yards of linen fabric, plus about 50-60″ of 1/2″ elastic. Though I mostly followed the pattern and instructions from the Spring Shorts pattern (it’s a free shorts pattern!), I did make some minor adjustments I’ve listed below.

• I created exposed pockets which were about the same size as the original pockets, but only one piece of fabric was required, as the back of the fabric was the front of the shorts. I hemmed along the bottom and side edge of the pocket, as well as the angled section where your hand goes. I then was able to attach the pocket to the front of the shorts, lining up the side and top with the side and top of the front of the shorts.
• I hemmed the bottom edge of the shorts by just ironing back the bottom edge about an inch.
• to make the waistband, I created the band as the pattern does, but I created one channel close to the folded edge, inserted one 1/2″ piece of elastic, and then created a second channel with a gap between it and the previous one for an additional piece of 1/2″ elastic. I then attached the waistband over the top edge of the shorts to cover any seams.