As you can tell from the making of my “Thrifty Thursday” series, I love to thrift! I go very often to find items for DIY’s as well as to update my wardrobe (which I mostly get second hand).
For those out there who also love to thrift, you already know the feeling when you find the perfect thrifting find (maybe a pair of designer jeans) only to realize it’s way too big. Well believe me when I say that it’s okay to go ahead and buy those way-too-big jeans because this is a foolproof way to take in most jeans and corduroy pants to your size!
Before 
After
This trick works on almost any pant with a waistband. You basically just want to open the first layer of the waistband, insert an elastic and sew it back up. In the instruction photos, I did this on a pair of Levi’s shorts but recently I did it on my corduroy pants and it looks great. This is a great way to customize pants to your size regardless if you thrifted them or recently lost weight and don’t want to say goodbye to your favourite jeans.
What you’ll need:
- Scissors or a seam ripper
- Sewing needle
- Matching thread
- Safety pins
- Elastic (1/2 inch or any size that fits in the waistband)
How to do it:
1. Cut two vertical incisions in the first layer of the waistband of your jeans. Make sure you only cut through the first layer of fabric and that they are the same distance apart from the middle. (See step two photo)
2. Cut out a few inches of elastic. I wanted my jeans to be shrunk by 2 inches so I made my elastic 2 inches smaller than the length between my two incisions.
3. Stick one end of the elastic into the “tube” of your waistband and hand stitch it on to the inner waistband.
4. Next, attach a safety pin onto the other side of your elastic and use it to pull the elastic through to the other incision. This might cause your waistband to bunch up a bit but that’s okay! Pin your elastic to the other side so that it does not pull back when you sew. Sew the remaining end onto your jeans.
5. Try on your jeans and make sure they’re the right fit. Then carefully stitch together the two openings you made earlier
And you’re done! This is sooo easy to do and only takes about 15 minutes of your time. If you’re not great at sewing, don’t worry! Your incisions and sewing will be on the inside of the waistband so even if you do end up with a wacky looking sew job nobody will even see it 🙂
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