How To Turn “Mom Jeans” Into High Waisted Shorts

Hi guys! So this probably won’t come as a surprise to anyone, but I pretty much live in a uniform of jeans and graphic tees from teefury. I know that a lot of creative people tend to also be good at having creative wardrobes, but I just… don’t? I like to stick with my uniform. I’ve finally found an exception to this, though, and that’s high waisted shorts. I really like them, but I have a hard time paying a ton of money for a little bit of fabric, which tends to be how things go in general for shorts. (Also bathing suits, but that’s a different story…)

Today, I’m going to show you how to turn $3 “mom jeans” from Goodwill into cute, and stylish high waisted shorts. It’s really easy, completely no-sew, and basically only requires cutting and folding.

Your first step is to put on the jeans and see where you want them to stop. If you like the look of frayed jeans, just cut them at exactly the length that you want them. If you prefer the look of rolled or cuffed shorts, cut about two inches longer than you want them to sit.

Pull the seam on one side away from your leg, and snip at the place you decided to cut. Only cut on one leg, because you’re going to want these to be even.

Fold your pants the way that you fold proper trousers, by pinching the front and back, rather than the sides. Do this so that you make sure the fronts and backs of each leg. You’re going to want to cut perfectly straight from the front of the pants to the middle seam, but then angle a bit down towards the back.

Because of how bodies curve, they’ll end up being too short in the back if you don’t angle down. Cutting through both layers at the same time keeps the pant legs even.

The last step is to cuff up the shorts. Just roll them up twice to hide the raw edge. You can stitch around this if you want, but it will stay on its own if you don’t want to do that.

And there you go- simple and cute high waisted shorts! Tuck your graphic tee in, or pair with a cropped shirt, and you’re good to go. If you give this a shot, let me know! I’d love to see yours, so send it my way- I’m @techni_moments on both twitter & instagram!

As always, there’s a video here if you’re more into that kind of tutorial :)