If you’re wondering how to tailor pants, you’ve come to the right place. It can be tricky to find pants that fit perfectly because all of our bodies are different. Just because a store-bought pair of pants is your size, they might not necessarily conform to all the unique contours of your body. Luckily, altering pants is fairly simple. In this blog, we’ll show you a few methods for tailoring pants that you can try at home.
Can Pants Be Altered?
Yes, pants can be altered if you have some basic knowledge of sewing and the materials that are required for alterations such as fabric scissors, measuring tape etc. If you have no sewing skills whatsoever, you may want to enlist the help of a professional tailor that offers pants and trousers alteration services.
Materials You’ll Need
When it comes to downsizing pants, you’ll need:
- A seam ripper
- Pair of fabric scissors
- Pins
- Tailor’s chalk
- A sewing machine (or hand sewing skills)
- Measuring tape
How Do I Make My Pants Tighter?
Pants can feel too loose in a few areas—most commonly around the waist or down the legs. The right alteration method depends on where the fit needs adjusting.
Below, we’ll walk through two common fixes: taking in the waistband and tapering the legs.
1. How To Make Pants’ Waist Smaller
If you’re wondering how to take in jeans at waist, the process is easier than you might think.
- First, you’ll need to figure out how much fabric you want to remove. To do this, put the pants on and pinch the excess material until it’s as tight as you want. Mark this extra fabric with pins or chalk.
- Next, use a seam ripper to remove the belt loop from the waist, but keep it to reattach later.
- Use the seam ripper again to remove the stitches from the middle of the waistline, open it up and unfold the waistband.
- Turn the pants inside out and re-pin the excess fabric you want to remove. Stitch together the fabric on either side and try on the pants to ensure they fit better.
- Once they fit the way you like, fold the waistband down and straight stitch the fabric down, reattach the belt loop, and you’re ready to go!
2. How to Make Your Pant Legs Slimmer
- Like with the first method, try on the pants and mark how much fabric you’d like to remove. You can also place a pair of pants that fit you well on top of the pants you’re altering and mark around them.
- Use a seam ripper to remove the stitches from the pant legs’ hemlines.
- Create a straight stitch along the guideline you’ve marked from the crotch to the hem of both legs.
- Cut the extra fabric using fabric scissors paying close attention to not cut into the inseam.
- Stitch the hemline of the pant legs closed, and finally, you’re ready to wear your new, tapered pants.
How To Make Pant Legs Shorter
- Try on the pants with the shoes you will most frequently be wearing with them. Wearing shoes will help you visualize where you want to pant leg to fall. Use chalk or pins to indicate where you’d like the new hemline to be.
- Fold the pants in half vertically so the pants legs are on top of each other and measure how much fabric you’d like to remove from the bottom. Mark a straight line across both pant legs where you want the hemline to be.
- Don’t forget to leave a hem allowance of about 2.5 cm unless you want a raw, frayed edge at the end of your pant legs.
- Use fabric scissors to cut the line you’ve marked and measured along both pant legs.
- Straight stitch a new hemline on both pant legs and iron the new hemline to remove wrinkles and leftover chalk markings.
Also Read: How to Hem Those Pants for a Perfect Fit
How Do I Make My Pants Waist Bigger?
We don’t recommend attempting to let out your pants waist at home. Making your pants bigger is a very challenging job that only professional tailors can do. It involves advanced stitching techniques and adding matching fabrics that someone with average sewing skills should not risk damaging their pants beyond repair.
Why Choose Love Your Tailor for Pants Alteration
Love Your Tailor is uniquely qualified for jeans alteration and pants alterations in Toronto because we traditionally handle complex projects that other tailoring services don’t have the confidence or skills to complete. We specialize in high-quality repairs, alterations and re-modelling for all kinds of garments, from wedding dresses to leather jackets to jeans. All of our tailoring and alteration services come with a 100% satisfaction guarantee; if you’re happy with the work we’ve done, we’ll reservice your article of clothing at no additional cost. If you have a new pair of pants that are too tight, too long, too short or have rips and scratches, we’ll give them a makeover you won’t believe! Get a free online quote, and let us show you why we’re the best tailor in Toronto!
