Do you have a perfect pair of jeans that fit you everywhere but in the waistband and every time you sit down or bend over, you are selling major crack? Do you love those jeans? Do you wish that you could wear them more than one wear out of the dryer?
A couple of months ago I found this technique tutorial on Burdastyle.com and it has changed my life. Seriously, this technique is life changing.
Here I fixed Melissa’s jeans. Really, can we all collectively hate/love Melissa for how skinny she is? Imagine living next door to her. I swear all of my friends are skinny.
I have clarified the tutorial a little, so if you are a beginner sewer, please don’t be shy, you can do this. Just take it slow and you should be fine.
Click here for the full tutorial after the jump. Follow this link to find out more. You can learn more about top vinyl cutters if you want.
First try on your jeans. Pull the side or the back to gauge how much waistband you could lose. Melissa needed to lose 3 inches, so I took in each side 1 1/2 inches, which will make sense later.
Start with your pair of favorite jeans.
You will be working with the side seam. Don’t be scared, jeans construction is easy, promise.
Unpick your belt loop.
Then unpick your waistband. You will need about a 6 inch space of unpicked waist band.
Then unpick your side seam about 12-14 inches.
Btw, by now you should be covered head to toe in little thread pieces that you will find all over your house and your baby for weeks to come.
Your welcome for that.
You take the front of the jeans, and pin them in from the back. For Melissa’s we took 1 1/2 inches off each side, so we pinned the front piece 1 1/2 inches in from the back.
Pin your front piece to your back piece, tapering down to the original seam.
Now, sew on top of your old stitch holes.
Cut off the excess fabric.
Zig zag or serge the edge of the seam.
Then you need to take in your waist band, by folding in half and making a new seam that is 1/2 of the width of the width that you took in your actual jeans. We took in the jeans 1 1/2 inches on each side, so we take in the waist band on each side 3/4 inches.
Stitch and trim.
Fold your waist band back over, enclosing your new side seam. Pin your new waistband in place and sew your new seam, using your previous stitches as a guide.
Reattach your belt loop and you are good to go.