inside: use this free printable sewing pattern to make the cutest womens board shorts. Be comfortable and ready for summer beach or pool days.
I love sewing swim wear! This free printable sewing pattern for womens board shorts started off with a mistake… I’ve been working on a free swimsuit pattern and thought I was ordering a yard of swim knit in this cute floral pattern… turns out I accidentally ordered board short fabric… since I couldn’t convince my boys to wear shorts with flowers I had to get creative with the uses for the fabric.
I decided to try a pair of womens swim shorts using my free sewing pattern for pj/lounge shorts. I’m thrilled with the outcome. After spending a week on the beach here in the Dominican, these shorts are just the thing a mom needs to chase after her kids on the beach or at the pool.
free printable sewing pattern – Womens Board Shorts
I’ll get to the swim shorts pattern in just a minute, but first let’s take a look a a few more fun photos. Rose and I enjoying a walk on the beach. The suit Rose is wearing is a swim pattern coming SOON, and I’m wearing my new favorite swim shorts! I knew this pattern would work well for me as it’s a good fit and not too loose. I also like the drawstring for swim shorts and this pattern already has one.
If you like my swim suit you can find it for cheap on Amazon. I took it when we did our Cuba cruise last fall, and it’s held up well. Kind of a fun mom suit {haha} For me the fit was as expected, but I did order a size/color combo that allowed for free returns if I didn’t fit.. I didn’t return it and have been enjoying it.
Here are a couple of my favorite places online to buy swim fabric… I’ve ordered from both already this spring! Since I’ve been ordering quite a bit of swim fabric I think I got the floral board short fabric from Raspberry Creek, but I’m not sure.. You would have to scroll through to see.
Raspberry Creek Fabric for swim
If you make a pair be sure to share photos in the FB group so we can all love on them!!
Board shorts sewing pattern free!
I made this board shorts sewing pattern free from my PJ/Lounge pants pattern. That pattern comes in two leg lengths and in sizes xxs- xxl so hopefully it will work for you. You can find that free sewing pattern here {WOMENS PJ SHORTS}
The video in this post gives a slightly easier way to do the waistband that I came up with since I wrote the original post so I would suggest checking out that video for the waistband part of the project. You can find that video in this post OR the shorts post. Again here is another link to that free swim shorts pattern
The only real change I made to the pj shorts pattern was to add a pocket on one side. I sewed up the side seam of the shorts first instead of the center crotch seam. With one front and back together I added the pocket while the shorts were opened up.
I also used my Brother {double} coverstitch machine to do all the topstitching… I’m slowly getting better at using that machine and I pretty much adore how this look with all the sporty top-stitching. If you don’t have a double coversitch you can use your single for this effect by stitching on the backside of the fabric.
If you don’t have a coverstitch at all you can use one of the more decorative stitches on your regular sewing machine or just topstitch with a straight stitch. You don’t need a stretchy stitch for board short fabric so it’s pretty easy.
You could totally add pockets to the back as well, but I like my one side pocket. My phone can fit in it if I need a place to keep while walking around. One other feature that I love with this shorts is the draw string. When fabric gets wet it tends to sag, so I can cinch up the draw string to keep my shorts from falling down! Plus it looks cute!
ok! Be on the look out for my newest girls swim pattern {the one Rose is wearing above} it’s a basic shape with lots of ways to sew it differently! Until then here are some other swim sewing ideas to get you started.
Free Swim Cover Up
Toddler Free Swim suit pattern
Dobrila says
Link to “free swim shorts pattern” in article “Free printable sewing pattern – Womens Board Shorts” doesn’t work 🙁 Can you check it out, please?
Emily says
Hi! I just tried it and it’s fine! It goes to the pj shorts which is what I used for this project. From there you can download the pattern.
sarah wells says
I can’t seem to find the pattern of the shorts you made, which by the way are beautiful!!!
Lori Bradley says
Thank you for another super cute pattern. I really love your sense of style and appreciate the modern and modest look.