Every spring I re-obsess over florals, pastel colors and excessively feminine pieces. This year is no exception and I’m continuing to see tons of pretty scalloped hems around. I love that just the shape of the hem can add so much softness to an outfit, so I decided that today’s DIY would be how to create a scalloped hem on shorts or a skirt that you may already own! I just used a pair of vintage shorts I had forgotten about. Let’s get started!
WHAT YOU’LL NEED:
- a pair of shorts (or a skirt!)
- scissors
- ruler or measuring tape
- chalk or a pencil
- sewing machine
TUTORIAL:
[ DROP HEM ] – Start by checking out the length of your current shorts and decide how long you would like them to be. I decided that I wanted them close to the same length, so I dropped the hem. Using a seam ripper or mini snips, just cut the seam for the hem. If you’ve decided to significantly shorten your shorts, you can just trim the hem entirely off!
[ FOLD & PIN ] – With your shorts right-side out, fold the hem outwards & pin it in place, making sure it’s folded out an equal length all around.
[ MEASURE & MARK ] – First measure from the hem up & decide how “deep” you want your scallops to be. I chose to make them 1.5" & carefully marked a bunch of lines all the way around. Next, measure the width of your hem. My shorts were 12" wide, so I was able to divide by 4 & make 3" wide scallops. Mark every 3 inches (or whatever increment you calculated) all the way around each leg.
[ DRAW ] – Now that you’ve finished measuring and marking, you should have perfect, even sized little boxes. You can use those boxes as guidelines to draw half circles for your scallops. Go around & draw half circles in every box all around your short legs!
[ SEW ] – Using a sewing machine, straight stitch carefully along the scalloped lines you just drew! If you’re not too experienced in sewing in curved lines, try practicing on another fabric first & just go sloooow.
[ TRIM ] – Using pinking shears, trim closely around the hem you just sewed to remove some of the bulk. Make sure to use straight scissors to trim up into the sharp nooks of the scallops!
[ FLIP & IRON ] – Carefully flip each of the scallops out! You may need to fiddle a bit with your fingers to get the scallops to lay flat, but just spray with some water while ironing them flat.
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Thanks for reading! Are you gonna try this DIY? Tweet us a photo @everybodyisugly
by Sylvia of Lipgloss and Black
Images by Syl and Sam
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