Hello Mermaids!  It’s swim season! Since my daughter really likes to wear swim shorts, I hacked the Lucy shorts and Sabrina underwear.  This is a simple and practical hack that I love making for myself too!

For Supplies you will need:

• swim knit for the main shorts (Lucy) and for the “lining” (Sabrina)
• 3/4″ swim elastic for the waistband

You will also need the Lucy shorts pattern and Sabrina pattern (or your favorite underwear pattern, but we love the coverage of Sabrina).

1st-  Cut out the Sabrina shorties using swim knit.  I added 1.5″ to the front and back rise of the Sabrina underwear to account for the higher waistband of the Lucy shorts. Cut the Sabrina leg bands per the pattern.  Optional: you can add 3/8″ elastic to the leg bands, but I found these stayed in place comfortably without elastic.  Next, cut out the Lucy shorts just like the pattern calls for.  Now lets exercise the elastic (give it a little stretch) to get your elastic ready to cut.  I used the Lucy shorts waistband measurements guide, then tried the elastic around my daughter to get a snug fit.  All elastic is a little different, and I find that swim elastic is more stretchy, so I adjusted the elastic about 1″ smaller than the regular shorts elastic to stay up in the water.  Sew elastic short ends together making a loop.

 

2nd-  Sew up the Sabrina’s just like the pattern, leaving the waistband unfinished.

3rd-  Sew up Lucy shorts per the tutorial – hem legs, etc., but leave the waistband unfinished.

4th-  Now take the Sabrinas right side facing out, put them inside the Lucy shorts (wrong side of Lucy with right side of Sabrina). Line up the waistbands of both and baste together at the waist opening. Basting makes adding the elastic to 2 layers of swim so much easier.  Then add in the swim elastic to the top of the waistband on the inside of the Sabrina with a stretch stitch.  Fold the waistband over to enclose the elastic, and topstitch it down with your favorite stretch stitch. Optional: add another row of topstitching to give it a nice look and hold the elastic in place.  I like to add a little tag to the back of the waistband so I can easily tell which side is the back.

All done – you just created a cute pair of swim shorts with a built in liner!  We really love to wear these swim Lucy’s around home at the little pool or at a waterpark. Do you love this hack as much as we do? Please share in our Facebook Group or tag us on Instagram @madeformermaids #lucypattern #sabrinapattern

-Amy