Taking in and taking out
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(On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I share a photo and just a few words.)
It's the story of life with three slim girls, especially when the middle one has a particularly small frame.
Not much fits off the rack unless it has adjustable elastic around the waist (thank heavens for that invention!), so I end up doing a lot of waistband modifications...a little tuck for Lisey, a little more for Sonia, and then when it's Zoe's turn, I usually need to rip out a tuck or two.
(By the way, these pink jeans/pants were a hand-me-down, and they had super flared legs, which Sonia didn't like. So, last year when I was modifying the waist for Sonia, I also made the legs more like skinny jeans than bell-bottoms, and I have to give Sonia props for her fashion sense...they do look way better with less flare.)
I'd love a tutorial on how to take in the waste band. I have a slightly different problem in that my hips are large but my waist is smaller. To get the pants on they have to be a larger size but that leaves the waist to gap. Belts just don't work as well as being able to take in some of the slack.
I don't do anything very fancy...just fold in the waistband and sew right up. I don't imagine it's as comfortable as a made-to-fit waistband, but I never remember it bothering me as a kid and it doesn't seem to bug my kids either! It works great on anything except super bulky materials, like thick denim.
I too would love a tutorial in how to take in a waistband. My child has shall we say and round bottom and a slim waist so she always has this gap.
I love those inner adjustable waist bands. They help me get the right length jeans for my daughter while keeping her jeans above her butt (I don't like when you can see a child's underwear because they have poorly fitting pants). My sons are thin and have no rear ends so they have nothing to hold their pants up. I don't know what I would do.
I have three very skinny children. The first two are boys and those adjustable inner-eleastic waist pants helped a lot. And I also did a lot of the type of sewing you show in your photo. I have found it is so much easier with a tall, skinny girl (my third child.) She just wears leggings as her pants - they are the perfect solution for this issue for a girl!
Believe it or not, I even have to take in the waist on leggings for Sonia sometimes!
I have the same problem with my son. He has no butt or hips, but needs a larger size for the length! He's very slim. I love the few pair of pants that have the inner adjustable waist that I've found for him at our local kid's consignment shop - the rest need some waist alterations.;-))
I have to take in all my waist bands too. I'm not that skinny, just super curvy in some areas, I guess. My son is slim and thin. It is tough to find pants to fit, but he pull off a pair of skinnies like no other three year old.
My waist was so tiny when I was a child. My mother would do the same thing.
You may already know this, but I'm going to say it because I didn't. 🙂 You can buy the button elastic used for adjustable pants and easily put that in the pants yourself to make the pants adjustable. I did this for my husband, actually. You just make a slit inside the waist band on each side, insert the elastic and add a button on each side. You could whip the edges where you made the slit, but I just used fray check. I also made a tiny stitch in the middle back under the belt loop to hold the elastic in place. Hopefully this makes sense. I saw a tutorial on it somewhere, but now have no idea where it was.
Have you tried Dapper Snappers? They are wonderful at adjusting waistlines in temporarily. My son has the same pants conundrum, and these solve it! Helps us to stay in one size longer as well!
Thanks for recommending Dapper Snappers! We love that! I know they are on every pair of my son's pants!
Whoever thought up the adjustable elastic waistbands in kids' clothes ought to get a medal! My boys don't like wearing belts all the time. Their favorite pants have the adjustable elastic/button waistbands.
To go along with the waist alteration subject--I've fixed skirts that were too big around the waist by cutting a slit on the inside of the waist band, sliding in however much elastic I thought was necessary, and stitching across each end of the elastic (right through the waistband) to hold it in place. I hand stitch the slit I made on the inside to close it up--nothing fancy. The stitches holding the elastic will show on the outside, but if you match the thread, it isn't usually a problem. The elastic distributes the extra fabric evenly across a greater area and works better than a tuck in some kinds of clothing. I've done both--it depends on what I'm dealing with and how I want it to look when I get done.
I wish I had your sewing skills! Do you darn socks as well? Know of a good tutorial?
Here's a link to a bunch of tutorials on altering jeans (and other pants):
http://tipnut.com/customize-jeans/
I've used the "ending bum crack" tutorial from Patchwork Posse many times on my daughter's pants and my own.
I plan on trying the "clever fix for waist too large" from Burdastyle for some waists that are too big or bulky to look good elasticized.