Faulty Fashion: How to make small shorts bigger

Got a hole in your favourite shirt?
The jeans you love so much ripped apart?

You don't have to throw it away. There are many ways to fix your clothes easy and fast.
As in this post, simply stitch the hole together and use the thread to make a beautiful embroidery.

Faulty Fashion is a series of posts to help when your clothes have flaws.
So far this includes the following posts:

Stitch holes up using thread as embroidery
Stitch holes up and conceal the thread
Cover holes with (selfmade) patches
How to make small shorts bigger (you are here)
Shortening your jeans using the original hem (coming soon)

faulty fashion how to fix broken torn clothes garments tutorial series minn's things

This pair of jeans was not used for years because of holes and too-tightness. But after I spent about half an hour turning them into a pair of nice-fitting shorts, they became one of my wardrobe staples - not only for summer, but paired with tights also for spring and autumn!

I have two very old jeans, not wearable for years as they are ripped at the backside. And they also are too small for me now. One of them was perfect to turn into shorts and here's how I did that.

I started with this long jeans, ripped at the backside. It is also a little bit too small for me now.

Goals:
Shorten it, fix the hole, then make it wider.

Ideas on how to make it wider:
I thought about adding a stripe at the very back to both make it wider and get rid of the hole, but I'm pretty sure that would have looked awkward. And the pockets would have been brought outwards which would also look kind of weird.
The only possible solution was to add stripes at the sides as everywhere else are pockets.

Step 1: Shortening

First step was to make it short. Gladly I could still put them on (just no button closing and looks horrible) and mark with tailor's chalk how short I want them. Other ways would be to take a short you already own as a pattern or just do it free-handed. If you are sure about the length, cut it - don't forget to add seam allowance if you want a clean hemline.
At this step I didn't sew the hemline. Still need to open that side seam and also I wanted to be sure about the length when I finished the hole.

DIY fixing hole in jeans pants backwards

Step 2: Fixing the hole

As I had the leftover pant legs I just cut out a piece and sewed it on. I thought I'd try kind of a pattern with the thread, but it didn't turn out as I wanted it to be. It's still okay though. I thought about covering it with another fabric or some kind of pattern but for now this works for me.

DIY making shorts bigger - opening seams

Step 3: Opening the side seam

Take the unstitcher and open that seam! Don't be shy and too careful, can't do anything wrong here.
When you reach the waistband, take a breath and just cut through.
You can do either one side after another or both at the same time. If you're not sure about sizing, probably better do both so you can try them on in between steps.

DIY making shorts bigger adding side seam

Right on right (before sewing)

Step 4: Preparing the strip and sewing it on

Take a good measure how long and wide your strips need to be. For this, measure your waist and the current width of the too small shorts. The difference is what you need to fill up with the two strips. Don't forget to divide it by 2 as there are two strips. Also don't forget seam allowance both in length and width.
If you want the shorts to slim fit on your legs, you'll need to measure your thighs too and adjust the strip (it may look more like a long V then)
Now take your strip and fold in one of the small sides and sew. This will be at your waist. Take your shorts as template to see how much you need to fold in.
Put the strip on the side right side on right side (as shown above), pin it if you like and sew it on.

DIY making shorts bigger sew on side strip

First seam finished

Put then right on right again and sew the other side on. If you do both sides at the same time you can pin them into place and try it on, see if it really fits.

Both seams finished

By now it should look like this on either one or both sides.
If you did only one side, repeat steps 3 and 4 at the other one now.

DIY Making shorts bigger finished both sides

Here both sides are finished. Be sure to try it on to see if it fits. Should be perfect now!
If it is still too small, you can take out the strips, add a wider one. If it is too big now, just try to sew another line further inside to make it smaller. Be sure to do little on both sides.