Sewing Gym Shorts - Beginner Level Tutorial

After recording the bias tape video last time, I decided a project using bias tape would make sense to show next!

These shorts use bias tape as a trim and really give them kind of a vintage vibe, which I love.



All credit for the "City Gym Shorts" pattern and tutorial goes to Purl Soho—thanks for making such a great project! Any deviations you see from their original tutorial are all my own and in no way reflect their pattern.

These shorts are fairly simple to put together. I like that they don't use very much fabric and you can make them in one sitting. There are only three pattern pieces, so the cutting goes quickly. These shorts also require an elastic waistband, which is a skill that I found useful as a beginner because it pretty much eliminates the need for any kind of fitting. 

My biggest tip for beginners is simple: go slowly! I have a tendency to make silly mistakes and get sloppy because I'm in a rush to get done with a project. But if you go slowly and carefully, you'll have great results with less time wasted on backtracking.

I hope you like this video! Our plans for future videos are to focus more on single skills or specific sewing techniques (perhaps incorporated into a pattern review??)—We're still working out the details. Anyway, let me know if you have any ideas for what you'd like to see!