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How to alter jeans? When you've lost weight...
kath210 Member since 5/11/09 Posts: 288	Login to reply to this post Like this post Date: 9/7/12 3:48 PM Does anyone have tips regarding altering jeans (denim or twill) after having lost weight? They all seem to come with those french type of seams. It seems one could use regular seams on the inseam and no one would really notice they were different there. And the waistband? Perhaps just a dart could do the trick, except it wouldn't quite fit the lower part anymore....a V-shaped dart might do? Then there are those strange buttons! I'd like to move it over, but how to take it off? Wouldn't it leave a hole? Then how to put it back on? I'd like to use one of those items sold to cinch it in...but most I see are for making the pants and button larger for when one gains weight, not loses it. I've got a bunch of perfectly good jeans I can't really wear now and would like to salvage them somehow. Thanks for any ideas.
CSM--Carla   Intermediate FL USA Member since 1/21/06 Posts: 1058	Login to reply to this post In reply to kath210 << Like this post Date: 9/7/12 5:01 PM I always have this problem anymore when I buy pants. But have found the answer to it without removing the waistband and adding darts etc. Basically it involves making a vertical slit at the inside of the jeans waistband and sewing in a short piece of elastic to pull in the excess fabric. Very fast and easy with instant gratification. It is written up here in Marcie Tilton's October 2008 Newsletter "Getting My Jeans To Fit." Scroll down to What Would Nandini Do?
EleanorSews   Advanced MI USA Member since 7/26/07 Posts: 3756 Board Moderator	Login to reply to this post Like this post Date: 9/7/12 5:17 PM Well... I did lose some weight and had to confront the favorite jeans being too big. Since I never put my jeans in the dryer, I started drying them in the dryer and that has been good for the first round (10 pounds lost or thereabouts). Now I am just looking for new jeans and using the looser ones when I garden or clean. ------ "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." Anais Nin "Attitude is the difference between an adventure and an ordeal." unknown
kath210 Member since 5/11/09 Posts: 288	Login to reply to this post Like this post Date: 9/7/12 8:41 PM The elastic insert is a good idea; I figured someone had to come up with an innovative idea. I've been considering shrinking them, too, but mine usually shrink more lengthwise than widthwise. However, I can always wear boots in winter if they shrink into "floods"! Or perhaps capris!
Tarrbaby   Intermediate MI USA Member since 10/28/06 Posts: 104	Login to reply to this post Like this post Date: 9/8/12 8:16 AM I figure if I lose weight I "DESERVE" new clothes. lol. ------ Dawn T.
cathy45 Advanced Beginner KY USA Member since 7/6/06 Posts: 165	Login to reply to this post Like this post Date: 9/8/12 8:42 AM I thought about altering too. But like Tarrbaby, I lost that weight, I wanted skinny jeans! ------ Cathy "I'm not messy, I'm creative" - Mary Engelbreight
Marie367   Intermediate OH USA Member since 5/28/11 Posts: 1360	Login to reply to this post Like this post Date: 9/8/12 9:26 AM I wouldn't alter jeans-too much heavy fabric with seams that are very thick. Of course, I don't like to alter RTW clothes anyway which is partly why I didn't go into business when I was younger. It is often hard to duplicate what the manufacturer did. Jeans are cheap at Walmart and Target-I would buy a pair or two their until my weight settled down and then buy a nicer pair in the brand I liked. That's just me of course but why make things harder than they have to be? Congratulations on losing some weight-it is not easy to do.
PattiAnnJ   Advanced OH USA Member since 12/3/06 Posts: 4982	Login to reply to this post In reply to CSM--Carla << Like this post Date: 9/8/12 9:44 AM This is exactly what I do. I works very well. Taking out the flat-felled seams don't really seem worth the time. Buy new britches and celebrate the new size!
skae   Advanced MN USA Member since 4/23/07 Posts: 2742	Login to reply to this post In reply to kath210 << Like this post Date: 9/8/12 9:52 AM I have altered jeans and it is a lot of takeing apart and then sewing back the way it was. This is what i did when i lost a lot of weight. I took the side seams apart and adjusted them to fit. Took the waist band split it in the back center. this makes a seam but you can cover that with the belt loop. Works everytime. ------ Galatians 5:22-23 The Spirit produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, and self-control. There is no law against such things as these
tourist   Intermediate BC CANADA Member since 7/23/07 Posts: 5414	Login to reply to this post Like this post Date: 9/8/12 9:58 AM I did a similar thing to the Marcy Tilton idea, but used wide, soft elastic on the inner face of the waistband. It works for small alterations like my sway back. Blog post with photos here I have lost weight, too, and I just kept tightening my belt until it was time for new jeans. Big alterations on them is just too much work for me. ------ http://bgballroom.wordpress.com to follow the progress on my next ballgown.

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