Toddler Knit Shorts

As an addition to the shorts patterns, this is the toddler size shorts sewing pattern as promised. This pair of toddler knit shorts have the same original design as the kid shorts with graded measurements to fit around the age of 3. If you wish to sew the toddler shorts with the original design, please refer to the kid shorts tutorial. Please scroll down to download the pdf pattern from the link in the tutorial section.

If you have been following through all the shorts sewing in Craft Passion, from boxer shorts, fully lined weekend shorts, kid shorts, Pre-teenager shorts, and this one – toddler shorts, you should be able to handle this sewing project pretty well. I am not going to repeat the whole basic sewing for the toddler version because it is basically a repetition of the kid shorts. Today, I am going to make a little variation on the basic shorts sewing pattern that includes:

1. recycle your old polo shirt to toddler knit shorts.
2. add a ribbed band on the pocket by using a T-shirt ribbed sleeves band.
3. sew the elastic band directly to the shorts’ waist.

Go grab an old unwanted jersey polo shirt, ripped it off, and sew it into a pair of knit shorts for your boy.

Toddler Knit Shorts

Download basic sewing pattern: Toddler shorts (3 years old), Kid shorts (7 years old), Pre-teenager Shorts (12 years old) [updated in 2016]

Material:
1. Knit fabric, 1/2 yard or a woman polo-shirt (at least a medium size, the bigger the easier)
2. Ribbed sleeve band (normally used on polo-shirt collar or sleeve)
3. 1 1/2″ Elastic band, length of the wearer’s waist measurement.
4. Ribbon, short length
5. Embroidery patch (optional)

Tools:
1. Sewing machine with matching threads
2. 4-thread Serger/overlock machine or zigzag stitch
3. Printer, letter size (8.5″ x 11″) paper 6 pcs. & glue (to print and join pattern)
4. Carbon and tracing wheel
5. Scissors
6. Seam ripper
7. Sewing kits
8. Iron
9. Safety pin

Note: Even though the material calls for knit fabric, you can use cotton to make a cotton shorts.

Download the toddler shorts sewing pattern in a pdf document and print it with your inkjet printer.
Feed the letter-size paper into your printer and print the pattern without setting any scale on the printing.
It is a 6 pages pattern, glue them together according to the page number on the corners.
Cut the paper pattern out.
{the pdf download will either open in a new tab or open a small window asking you to save it as a file. If you can’t find the saved file in your computer, the default folder usually is in “/downloads”}
{If you can’t download the pdf pattern, probably you don’t have acrobat reader, download the latest version for free, here.}

The original woman jersey polo-shirt of mine before turning into a toddler knit shorts.
Use scissors to cut along the seams to separate out the front, back, and the sleeves. Use a seam ripper to separate the ribbed band from the sleeves, don’t cut.
Place the paper patterns on the cut polo shirt, arrange them to get the best cut.
I have to shorten the length of the shorts about 1″ in order to fit in the woman M size polo shirt. Cutting and arranging of the pattern are easier if you have a bigger & plain polo T-shirt.
If your polo shirt has stripes like mine, aligned the stripes when pinning and cutting so that it looks neat and matched after sewn.

Pin and sew the ribbed band along the pocket curve on the right side of the front shorts. Cut away the extra length.

Place Pocket A onto them, with right side facing the front shorts. The ribbed band is in between the shorts and the pocket. Align and pin from the shorts side.
Turn to the shorts side, sew on the first seam line.

Flip Pocket A to the shorts side, press with a warm iron.
Double top-stitch near the edge and 1/4″ apart.

Attach Pocket B, pin and sew it with pocket A. Neaten the raw edges with 4-thread over-lock stitch by using a serger or zig-zag stitch.
Personally, I like 4-thread over-locking, it gave a neater look.

Repeat the same sewing steps to the other pocket.
Join the front, back, left & right of the shorts by following the kid shorts tutorial.
Neaten the rest of the raw edges by a 4-thread over-locking stitch or zig-zag stitch.
Fold the hem of the shorts and double top-stitch on the seam.
Measure the wearer’s waist with the elastic band, cut the exact length. Overlap the ends by 1/2″, zig-zag stitch with matching color thread to join the ends.

Cover both sides of the seam with ribbon, sew the edges with same color thread as the ribbon. Sew another ribbon approximate 3″ apart. Attach iron-on embroidery patch on the center but don’t iron, instead, stitch along the edge.

Split the elastic band to approximate 4 equal parts. Pin the elastic band evenly across the waist, approximate 2″ – 3″ between pins.

Stretch the elastic to match the length of the waist between the pins, sew a short length at a time. Sew with same color thread as the elastic band.
Top-stitch another line 1/4″ above the first seam line.

The front view of the toddler knit shorts with rib-edge pocket.

The back view of the toddler knit shorts with an embroidery patch on the elastic band.

During the weekends, I love to sit in a corner and watch them play while doing my craft, though the shouting and screaming are hardly bearable and I have to intervene to control the situation a little so that they won’t do something beyond the limit. But, all in all, I do enjoy seeing the bonding between the siblings……