Make my jeans fit me
Take the waist in
Materials:
Roll of elastic (opt for 1” thick, but can be thinner)
Scissors
Safety pins
1. Measure the Elastic
Start by wrapping the elastic around your waist at about the same place the waistband of your jeans hits. (If they come up to your belly button, wrap there. If they hit at your true waistline, measure there.)
2. Cut Your Denim
Turn your jeans or shorts inside-out and lay them flat.
Use scissors to make an incision in the waistband, in the inner layer only. The cut should be about two inches from the button area. Make sure it’s about as tall as your elastic is wide. Once you have your first cut, repeat on the other side of the button.
You’ll wind up with two symmetrical cuts on the inside of the waistband.
3. Insert the Elastic
Fasten a safety pin to the end of the elastic that you’ll be pulling and feed the elastic through the waistband, untill you have elastic coming out both sides.
4. Trim Excess Elastic
Cut the excess elastic so that only one inch is poking out on each side.
5. Cinch and Fasten
Pulling both ends of the elastic cinches the waist,
Attach safety pins to either side of the elastic
Fasten the Pin to both the elastic and the inner layer of denim at your desired measurment.
If you want something more permanent :
Simply sew two small buttons into the inner waistband—one on each side of center. Then, snip holes in the elastic so you can pull each button through.
For a visual detail this youtube guide is great!
Make your jeans freyed
This is a great option when you are petite
1. Mark the hemline
- Put your jeans on and turn up the hem on the outside of the jeans to the length you want the new hem to be.
- Pin the amount of fabric turned up in place and remove the jeans.
- Check the side seams of the jeans and line them up.
- Match the sides to each other and fold the jeans to match the inner leg seams as well.
- Ensure both legs are the same.
- Pin along the edge of the folded hem.
2. Cut the hem
- Measure 2.5cm BELOW the marked pinline and cut across slightly lower than your desired hem as the freying edges will curl up.
3. Optional
Optional - Straight stitch along the pinline to limit the fraying.
4. Frey
- Pull a few threads out at the edge to start the fraying process. The rest will fray naturally as you wash and wear your jeans. You can speed the fraying process by using a seam ripper, pinking shears, or cutting strips.