Hello, my name is Cyndi Marziani and I am the owner of bdancewear.com. In this tutorial, I am going to show you how to make Cheer/Dance Shorts, aka Booty shorts. You are going to be amazed how easy it is to make these shorts.
The instructions in this demonstration will show you how to sew a pair of booty shorts or dance shorts. It is a very simple, simple technique that requires few seams, a hem, and a little bit of elastic. You will definitely need a sewing machine to do this. Hand stitching will just not work.
One of the things you will want to know is that you need to make sure your fabric is a four-way stretch. When you can stretch the fabric from top to bottom, that is considered a two-way stretch. When you can also stretch it sideways, that makes it a four-way stretch. Lycra is the best material to choose for this project. You can use cotton Lycra but you will really want to take into consideration how much it stretches and how comfortable it is.
You can either use a commercial pattern for dance shorts or create your own pattern using our video or written tutorial called How to Make a Pattern for Dance Shorts. Once you have the pattern, it is time to make the shorts. So, you are going to make sure that the material is a four-way stretch. If you use our tutorial or video and your favorite shorts that you used to make a pattern for these shorts, use the same type of material as was used to make the original shorts.
Supplies:
- Stretch material – preferably four-way stretch
- Matching thread
- Elastic
- Scissors
- Straight Pins
- Tailor’s chalk or a small piece of soap
- Sewing Machine
Directions:
- Choosing Your Materials
The paragraphs above describe the material you will need for this project. The best choice is a material that is a four-way stretch. Lycra is the best material to choose. You can use cotton Lycra but the most important thing to consider is how much it stretches and how comfortable that is.
You will also need to choose whether you want to purchase a commercial pattern or make your own pattern by either watching our How to Make a Pattern for Dance Shorts video or tutorial. Using our tutorial or video will only work if you have a favorite pair of shorts that you love how they fit to use as a basis for the pattern.
- To Pin or Not to Pin
When I cut material, I usually like to use weights to hold the material and the patterns down and in place while I cut the material instead of pinning the pattern to the material. However, many people are not comfortable with the idea of not using pins. If you are one of those people who is not comfortable with the idea of not using pins, feel free to pin the pattern and material to your heart’s content. Use as many pins as you need to feel comfortable. If you are a less experienced sewer, you will probably want to pin the waistband together every couple of inches. Whether you pin the pattern to the material or not, you will want to make sure that both the top and bottom layers of material lay flat and are nice and smooth with no little bumps. Once you make sure both layers are flat, just keep pinning the pattern and material all the way around. You are going to be amazed how easy this is. Just go ahead and cut the material following the pattern and cut it out.
- Cutting the Material
Now, if you are using stretch fabric, you need to make sure that you do not stretch it while you are cutting. You can lift it up a little and lay it down, but do not stretch the fabric because it will change the size of the finished shorts. The thing to remember is that with these seams if they are a little choppy, you are okay. No one will know the difference. If you do not tell anybody they are a little choppy, nobody will know since they are on the inside. This is especially true if you are using a serger or overlock machine to sew the pieces together. Make sure that the material underneath stays flat and just keep cutting.
I feel comfortable picking the material up a little if I am holding it between my two fingers but some people are not comfortable lifting the material up. They are afraid they will mess up cutting the material. If you are not comfortable lifting the material, do not lift it. Just leave the material laying flat on the table as you cut it.
One of the things you have to remember when you cut the material for the shorts is to fold the material in half before you start cutting. One side of the material is the shiny side and the other side is not shiny. You can use either the shiny side or the other side for the outside of your garment. You just need to make sure that whether you choose the shiny side or the non-shiny side to be on the outside of your garment, you need to be consistent throughout the project. You will need a left side and a right side to the shorts and they will both need to be the same – shiny, or not shiny – depending on your personal preference. If one side of the shorts is shiny and the other side is not, that will not work. You will end up with two right legs or two left legs. If the material is folded in half before cutting, the shorts will automatically be cut properly.
- Sewing the Pieces Together
N0w, comes the sewing part. I have cut the shorts and am now ready to sew. I am using a lighter colored thread so that you can see the stitching in the pictures. When you sew your booty shorts together, aka dance/cheer shorts, you will want to have a thread that matches your material so that the stitches do not show. If you have a stretch stitch on your sewing machine, I recommend that you use it. If not, then I would use a straight stitch and then a zigzag. For demonstration purposes, I am going to take the side with the look that I want to show and put those two pieces together with those sides with that look facing each other. In other words, if I want the shorts to be shiny on the outside, I will put the two shiny sides together. Then, I am going to go ahead and use a straight stitch and I am going to put it really, really wide so that it will go fast.
Some people feel more comfortable pinning the pieces together. I feel more comfortable just holding the pieces together while sewing them together without the benefit of pinning them together first. But if you are not comfortable with that, pin them together before you sew. Even some experienced sewers feel more comfortable pinning the pieces together, especially if you are working with larger pieces. So, with the sides we want to show facing each other, I am going to line up the top and bottom of the seams. The pieces will either have two shiny pieces facing each other or two non-shiny sides will be facing each other.
- Sewing Guides on Sewing Machine
Most sewing machines have guides on the surface of the sewing machine next to the Throat Plate, or Needle Plate, and the needle. Those guides will show you how wide your seam will be if you use one of those guides. They measure the distance from the needle to the edge of the material if the material is next to the guide. It is important to use those guides as you feed the material through the machine. A ¼ inch difference in either direction will make your garment a different size. If your machine does not have those guides, you can create your own by placing a piece of tape parallel to the needle. For instance, if you want a 5/8 inch seam, measure from the tip of the needle to the 5/8 inch mark to the right of your needle and place a piece of tape at that point parallel to the presser foot. Guiding your material next to that piece of tape will create a 5/8 inch seam.
Now, as I said earlier, I prefer to not take the time to pin the pieces together. But, as the material feeds through the machine, I need to ensure that the material is taut while also ensuring that I do not stretch the material. It is important that the edges of the material line up and that the material does not bunch up. When I was sewing the crotch, it gathered up a little so what I am going to do is stretch the crotch out a little and smooth the material over the stitches before I go any further and make sure that stitches stretch. As it turns out in this case, it was just a matter of the thread getting tangled up a little bit. So, stretching the crotch out took care of the “problem.”
- Sewing the Shorts
You are now going to take the crotch of both sides and line them up. If you are using a regular sewing machine and not a serger, open the crotch seam up so that it is open as you sew over it. Make sure that the seams are lined up so that they meet and look nice from the outside. Whenever I get to the center of the crotch, I use a straight stitch and not an overlock because with an overlock you cannot back up. I stitch back and forth a few inches a few times over the seam to make sure that the crotch is extra secure.
If you ever have a time when a thread breaks while you are sewing, just stop and rethread the needle. Do not let it fluster you. Just rethread the needle, go back an inch or so from the point the thread broke and stitch over the broken end and continue sewing. You need to make sure you catch the end of the broken thread so that it is secure and does not unravel.
Just remember to check the seams in the crotch to make sure they meet up correctly before you sew the seam and then check it again. Now flip it around and check to make sure the seams match up. This is where it shows how important it is to have the seams match.
- Adding the Elastic
The elastic has already been measured and cut to the appropriate size to fit the dancer’s waist plus a couple of inches. Take the ends of the elastic and overlap them. The final elastic loop should measure the dancer’s waist. Before you sew the loop closed, make sure the elastic is not twisted. You will now have a continuous loop much like a big rubber band. Now, stitch the elastic over the overlapped area. Make sure to sew back and forth over this overlapped area to make sure that the connection is nice and strong so that the threads do not break and the shorts do not split apart at the seam when stressed.
Squeeze the elastic loop so that it is flat loop with a fold at each end. One of those folds will be in the middle of that overlapped area. Put a pin in the each folded end or mark them with a pen or chalk to make sure that the elastic is divided evenly. Those two pins or marks will be the center back and the center front. The width at the waist of the shorts will be larger than the looped elastic. Match the edge of the elastic band to the edge of the material at the waistband. Then pin the elastic to the waistband matching the pins or marks to the front seam and the back seam. You will then need to stretch the elastic out so that the elastic loop is equal to the width of the shorts’ at the waist.
- To Pin or Not to Pin
I have done this many, many times so I am very comfortable with just using these two pins and just holding the elastic and the waistband of the shorts in place while I am sewing – making sure to stretch the elastic equally around the waist as I am sewing. However, for most people, it is easier to pin the elastic in place at the front seam and the back seam and then stretch the elastic out so that the elastic can be pinned at equal intervals around the top of the waist. However, if you want to just use the two pins – one at the center front and one in the center back – that is perfectly okay. On the other hand, if you need to put a lot of pins in the elastic to pin it to the top of the shorts, that is okay, too. Whatever you need to do to ensure that the elastic is evenly stretched along the top of the shorts, that is the way you should do it.
- Sewing the Elastic to the Shorts
When you sew the elastic to the waistband, you need to either sew very, very carefully and slowly over the pins or remove them altogether before you sew over them. Otherwise, you are likely to break a needle. You will now need to fold the top of the shorts over at the top of the shorts so that the elastic is inside the shorts between the folded over portion and the side of the shorts. You will then sew the elastic down with the stitches about a ¼ inch from the edge of the elastic that is furthest from the top of the shorts. Depending on your comfort level, you can either hold the folded over material and elastic in place as you sew or pin it down. As you did when you first sewed the elastic to the waistband, you could place pins at the center front and center back or as many as you want around the waist. Just remember to place the pins equally around the waist. You will need to stretch the material and elastic just as you did when you sewed it to the top of the shorts initially. Also, you can stitch on the inside of the shorts with the inside facing up or with the outside facing up.
The advantage to stitching the seam with the outside facing up is that it gives you the extra benefit of being able to see how it will look when you are done and you can see if the material bunches up under the stitches or if there are creases in the material that you might otherwise not see and, therefore, sew over. You need to make sure that the elastic is stretched to match the top of the shorts and that it is taut.
Whether you sew the elastic to the top of the shorts from the inside or the outside, make sure that you catch both the elastic and not just the fabric or the elastic. It is best to keep the stitches about a ¼ inch from the edge of the material in a nice even stitch. If you are sewing with the outside of the shorts facing up, you will not be able to see whether or not the seam is ¼ inch from the edge of the elastic. In that case, measure from the top of the shorts and use that guide that exists on the sewing machine. Consider the width of the elastic, deduct the ¼ inch and use the difference to determine how far the stitches should be from the top. For instance, if the elastic is 1 inch wide, sew with the stitches ¾ inches from the top edge.
The elastic will probably be too wide to use the stitching guides on the top of the sewing machine, if you have one. As an alternative, you can lay down a strip of tape on the sewing surface of the sewing machine as a guide. You can also find some other point on the sewing machine to use as a guide. For instance, on some machines there may be a hole used to screw accessories to this surface. If the spacing is accurate, you could possibly use that hole as a as a guide.
It is also important to make sure that the top of the waistband is folded over the elastic in a very even way and there is no extra material above the elastic. The material should be folded over the elastic right at the upper edge of the elastic with just a minimal amount of room. If it is folded over too tightly, the elastic will be bunched up and it will roll your elastic and you want the elastic to lie smoothly between the two layers of material. If you have a stretch stitch on your machine, this is a good time to use it.
- Hemming the Legs
For the hem on the legs, you will want to turn the ends inside. Again, you can choose to either pin the leg bottom up all the way around or you could fold it over and just hold the ends in place. Either way, you will definitely want to use a zigzag stitch or your stretch stitch here if you have one. You will definitely want to make sure you have turned the edges over an even distance all the way around the bottom of the leg because if you pull the fabric up too high at any point, then one part of your shorts will be shorter and tweaked. You will next use the hem on that leg to determine the hem on the other leg. Once you have sewn all the way around the bottom of the leg, make sure to stretch it out to make sure the stitches do not snap. If the thread does snap, do not worry about it. Just stitch over the broken stitches making sure to catch the ends of the broken thread as you sew over the breaks.
- Sewing Tips
If you stretch the seam and the thread breaks just go over that spot again. Do not be intimidated. Do not stop. Just sew over it. Remember, you want to back stitch at the beginning of a seam and also back stitch at the end. This is a way of locking the stitches at the beginning and ending similar to tying a knot at each end.
Whether you are new to sewing or an experienced sewer, things are going to go wrong at one time or another. So, don’t worry about it. Remember, this is the inside of the garment where nobody sees it except for you anyway. You do not have to tell anybody what it looks like inside. They will only see what it looks like on the outside.
And there you have it. You have created your first booty shorts.
If you enjoyed this demonstration, make sure to look at our other demonstration or the Bdancewear videos on YouTube. You can subscribe to our channel so that you do not miss any of the amazing DIY videos that we will have coming out. If you want to get our free complete dance costume DIY guide, go to bdancewear.com/DIY guide. Lastly, if you have any questions or ideas for future videos or presentations, please contact us through our YouTube channel or on our website – bdancewear.com
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