How to Add an Adjustable Waist
To Most Any Pair of Pants!
Supplies:
- Too-Big Clothes
- Too-Slim Kid
- non-rolling elastic
- spare buttons
Directions:
Cut a piece of elastic
to a length that will reach from the almost-center back
of the pants to the not-quite-center front. It's not an
exact measurement so don't freak out. This is what my
elastic looks like, laying on the waistline of the pants
with the pants laying flat:
Check your sewing
machine's owner's manual to see if you have a special
buttonhole stitch for stretch fabric. Mine did.
Mark your elastic every
inch or so, then make button holes on each inch marking.
You can also hem under the end of the elastic if you
care to, though it's not necessary.
Turn the pants
inside-out, then lay them flat, with the center front
facing you. Sew on buttons a little ways to the left and
right of the center. Then use an exacto knife to cut
vertical slits through one layer of the waistline
fabric, a smidge to the left of the left button and a
smidge to the right of the right button. The white you
see is elastic that was already in the waistline of
these pants.
Now re-fold the pants
so that the hip is facing you, and the tag is to the
left. Button your elastic in place.
Lift the non-button end
of the elastic up and cut a slit just a little ways in
from where the end of the elastic was. Repeat on the
other side.
(With the pants laying flat
and the center back facing you, this is what it looks like):
Now put a safety pin on
the end of the elastic to thread it through the
waistline casing of the pants.
Pin it in place, then
tuck the end back in to the casing.
Sew a zig-zag stitch up
and down both sides of the slit to close it up, and to
hold the back of the elastic in place.
This stitch will go through the whole
waistline, so you'll just barely see it on the outside of the
pants, but it's not noticable if your thread is reasonably
similar in color:
Here's what they look
like with the last buttonhole buttoned- not stretched or
altered at all (great in case the child's younger
sibling isn't necessarily as slim and may not need the
adjustable waist):
Here's what it looks
like when the third button hole is used, making the
pants smaller... the waistline just gently puckers as it
goes smaller:
Insert a pants model
who can really work it on the runway to show those pants
who's boss!
OPTIONAL: Fuss at the
clothing manufacturers for not making EVERY pair of
pants adjustable waist to begin with!!! Can you believe
that ALL of these shorts/pants have FAKE drawstrings?!?
What is the point of a fake drawstring?! To drive me
insane? Yes, I think so.
Last, if you decided to
do this project yourself, please send me a photo of it
with your name and what state you're from! I've recently
decided to start featuring my readers' finished
results.
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