Pleated Skort pattern and tutorial

Supplies:
1. Your favorite shorts pattern ( Here's a free one from MADE)
2. Fabric - I used up about 1 yd for a 2.5 year old
3. Elastic
4. Contrasting fabric and interfacing for applique. ( I'm not showing how to do
appliques here, but here's a good article on interfacing)

1. Cut out the shorts pieces.

2. Sew the inseams of both legs but not the outer seams.

3. Join the crotch area by turning out one of the legs and slipping inside the other.

4. Cut a rectangle whose width is 1.75x front width of shorts and length is equal to the length of shorts.

5. Sew wide pleats in the center of the rectangle such that the width becomes equal to the front of shorts. Depending on the width of pleats you should get between 4-6 pleats in the center

6. Sew the top of the pleated rectangle on the top of the shorts front. The wrong side of pleated fabric will be with right side of the shorts front.

7. Turn the shorts inside out such that the pleated part is sandwiched between front and back. Now sew the outer seams of the skort, making sure the pleated front is getting caught by the seam. Leave the bottom 2 inches un-stitched. These will be used to hem the skort. Turn out the skort.

8. Cut a piece of 5 inches X WL. Sew a seam along the shorter ends ( right sides together).

9. Slip this tube over the skort top and sew along the periphery.

10. fold the raw end of the waistband quarter inch onto itself.

11. Fold the waistband inside such that the fold in step 10 sits just below the seam joining waistband to the skort.

12. Sew a seam right below the waistband, making sure you are catching the folded end on the inside. Leave two 1 inch gaps on both the sides for inserting elastic.

13. Use a safety pin to insert the elastic from one gap to another in the back of skort.

14. Sew both ends of the elastic at the sides by sewing zigzag stitch at both ends. Go over them multiple times to secure the ends.

Finishing the hemline:

15. At the bottom two inches of the pleat part which you left un-stitched in step 7, fold it slightly angled at the sides and sew.

16. Now fold the hemline quarter inch on itself and sew, now fold it again all the way to the stitched sides and sew a seam.

17. Here's how it will look after the pleated part has been hemmed.

18. Now sew the sides of the shorts completely and hem them like you would any pair of shorts. Just make sure that the final hemline of shorts is flush with the hemline of pleated skort part.

19 Skort is ready. Embellish with an applique, colorful buttons ( only if its safe for your kids) or fabric paints and put one your little one.

See the smile!