How to make paper bag skirts / shorts/ trousers

In my previous post, I talked about my inspiration for making paper bag tops to a pair of trousers (or pants) for a toddler. In this post, I'll talk about the other kids' clothes that followed this idea, skirts and shorts, and give you general tips for making them. You can read about the trousers here.

Paper bag skirt

Paper bag shorts

Another pair of paper bag shorts

When they saw this purple border print I'd brought back from India, both my oldest two grand-daughters wanted that fabric (one said shorts, one said a skirt).

Unfortunately, there was only enough for one garment. I searched high and low (including the Indian fabric web site I often use, Ikotri) but found nothing similar - it had been an offcut from Madurai. However, I did manage to get some plain purple cotton, and a border trim, not exactly the same, but in similar colouring, which I hoped would pass muster.

In the end, there was only one way to go with it. On closer inspection, the Indian fabric had some bad fade marks, which were easily avoided / disguised for the shorts, but would have been disappointingly visible on the skirt. So the skirt, below, was made from the new cotton fabric with the gold and purple border attached. 

So first, let's talk about the skirt. I'm going to tell you how I made it, rather than giving you specific instructions. But I hope that it will be easy enough to follow if you want to make a similar skirt. I didn't use a pattern for this, it was a simple gathered skirt. Jane's skirt used the full width of fabric 56" wide, by the finished skirt lenth plus the top and hem.  This worked out as follows.  Finished length for 'normal' skirt, 14", or about 35.5cm, (skirt length measured from waist to hem). Plus a 1 1/2" inch bottom hem so the trim would sit just above it. Plus about 3"-4" more for the top. (Depends on how wide elastic you want to use, and how much frill you want. This allowed for 3/4" elastic and about 1 1/4" frill above.) On this skirt, I did it by trial and error. I knew how long I wanted the finished skirt from waist to hem. So I folded up what looked about the right amount of hem, and folded down what looked like the right amount of frill plus elastic. On the picture below, the hem is at the bottom and the planned waistband at the top. 

So this meant I cut a piece across the whole width of fabric by about 19" long. First I made the centre back seam so the skirt was in a circle. Next, I pressed up the bottom hem and pressed down the top, so that I could check the length once more. Then I sewed up the bottom hem with a half inch turn and a 1" turn, and applied the trim. You may be able to see that I applied the trim just above the hem, in the end, because I thought if I should need to lengthen it at any stage, that would be a lot easier. 

Next, to the waistband. I'd already measured how deep I wanted it to be, including the frill which would sit above the waistband.

And I had pressed under a bare half inch, and the top fold.

Here's the inside of the top, ready to start sewing.

First, I did a line of stitching all the way round, near the bottom edge, leaving a gap into which the elastic would eventually be inserted.  (Sorry, I didn't picture this stage, but you can see  below the gap in that seam after I've completed the next seam.)

Next, I sewed the seam which was to form the bottom of the frill, and the top of the elastic casing. To make sure I was leaving enough for the elastic, I laid the elastic alongside my presser foot as I sewed, like this. (Note the elastic is just beside where the needle is going down into the hem.)

So the top was now ready for the elastic to be inserted. 

I'd measured Jane's waist, 22 1/2" or 57cm. So I cut a piece of the 3/4" (c 18mm) elastic that was about an inch longer, with the aim of overlapping by 1 1/2". (I always like to allow for a bit of growth.)  With a safety pin, I threaded it through, making sure I didn't lose the free end.

Making sure the elastic wasn't twisted, I pinned the ends together with the overlap of about 1 1/2".

I sewed the ends together using a zigzag sttich so it could still stretch.

Then I pulled the elastic through into position, and sewed the gap closed. And here's what the inside of the finished waistband looks like.

And the whole skirt.

She's been keen enough on it to wear it on several different occasions, though I must admit it looks a little better now she's grown into it a bit more. (With the green top, three months later.)

 Now to shorts. The principal is the same for making paper bag shorts. You need to add some fabric to the top. How you will do this depends on the pattern you are using, and specifically, whether it has a separate waistband or not. (If you don't have a shorts pattern, I'll give you some ideas at the end.)

It's pretty easy to work out, if you have a separate waistband. The waistband pattern piece in your pattern will be just over the depth of the elastic, plus seam allowance times 2. So, for example, if the elastic is to be 3/4" deep, and the seam allowance is 5/8", the existing waistband should be just a bit deeper than (3/4" + 5/8") x 2.  Or 1 3/8" x 2 = 2 3/4" - lets say 3" to allow for the actual seam. (Hope you like the mathematical notation.) You have to add double what you want your frill to be. If you want to have a 1" frill, you'll need to add 2", if you want 1 1/4". you'll need to add 2 1/2", and so on. 

As you apply the waistband, normally you'd sew the outside on first, right sides together, and press it open. Once you get to that point, you can follow what I did with the skirt. In other words, first fold it over twice (usually this will be  3/8"-1/2" for the first fold, just so you can catch it in the seam) Sew the bottom seam, leaving the gap for elastic, As you've already got a seam joining the waistband to the shorts, you can 'stitch in the ditch' for this seam. Then sew the second seam all the way round, just above where the elastic will go.

For the shorts that I made, I used a Simplicty pattern, 1453, which didn't have a separate waistband - the waistband was formed by turning down the top of the shorts. 

(Just an aside here. For the larger pair, in size 8-9, I overlapped the front and back pattern pieces by the seam allowance as I was short of fabric. I've already mentioned that there were some fade marks on the fabric that I needed to avoid. This meant I could cut just one piece for each side of the shorts, and not run into the faded part of the fabric. )

On this pattern, because there was no separate waistband, I had to do a bit more calculation to change it into a paper bag top. 

The pattern was marked with the normal position of the waist, about 1 1/4" below the cutting line. (Arrowed on the picture.) So the shorts would be folded down at this point, and folded under again to make the waistband.

I wanted just over a 1" frill on these shorts. (Not too frilly, or they would have been rejected.) So again, I needed to add 2" to the top. The top of the elastic would still be in the same position, with the frill above it.

 What this all means, is that again you need to add roughly twice what you want the depth of your frill to be.

Fleur's skirt had 3/4" (19mm) elastic as opposed to the half inch elastic recommended by the pattern, so in fact I added a bit more to allow for that. She had a 1" frill.

And a close up of the border at the bottom of the shorts.

Here, she's wearing them, though with a T shirt over the top, you can't see the paper bag top of the shorts! But she liked them.

I made Rose's shorts from the same pattern in size 6. I added 1 and a half inches to the top for a smaller frill and only 1/2" elastic. (I also added 1.5" to the bottom, as she doesn't like shorts too short.  As I made her shorts in the 4 pieces of the original pattern (remember I combined the front and back patterns into one for Fleur's), that meant I could insert in-seam pockets. (To find out how to add pockets, with some templates, see this post.)

I also added a little tab to the back so she could get them on the right way round.

I haven't so far got a decent shot of her wearing them, though I know she has, and here's the proof!

Now for more ideas about making paper bag shorts and skirts, have a look at these.

Once Upon a Sewing Machine has a nice tutorial and free pattern for paper bag shorts in size 5-6.
Zune's Sewing Therapy has a similar free pattern and tutorial for age 3.

If neither of these 2 sizes of free patterns for paperbag shorts work for you, then you could, as I did, adapt an ordinary shorts pattern. If you don't have one, here are some free ones you can try.

Craft Passion's shorts come in sizes 3,7 and 12 (all on the small size, as sized for Asian children. But I've sued all of these and drawn in between the sizes when I wanted, say, a size 5. 
Oliver + S Sunny Day shorts. Multiple sizes. For a paper bag style, you might want to widen the legs a little too, to give some balance. You could either just draw the vertical seams at a slightly wider angle, or, if you want a much more culotte shape, use the slash and spread technique.
Sew Like My Mom has a nice shorts pattern in sizes 12 months up to 8 years. 


And finally, See Kate Sew has a general tutorial for making a paper bag skirt. No pattern but she shows how to do it from measurements. Her example is for a woman's size.