Altering a too tight waistband

Okay, I'm about to expose a flaw. I think I'm a little thicker around the waist than most people my size, because I often run into the too-tight-waistband-but-fits-great-everywhere-else type of problem with store bought pants. And, since nobody likes a muffin top, I have finally mastered the way to fix this issue.

I recently bought some pants at Old Navy that I loved. They were on super clearance--I paid $4 (the original price was $42!) and they fit so great except for that waistband! I bought them anyway, determined to find a solution because I really do need some dress pants in my wardrobe.

Here's what I did. The back of the pants had darts sewn in below the waistband, so I just cut those babies open. (Please excuse the terrible pictures!)

Then, I bought some of the widest black elastic I could find. I think it's about 3" wide, but if you need wider, you could do this same thing with a knit fabric. I spread the darts out about and inch and a half each and sewed the elastic behind it, first with a straight stitch, then with a satin stitch to cover the raw edges. It looks like this:

Trim the elastic on the back:

And do the other dart! Here's what mine look like now:

Tada!
Some super comfortable dress pants! For four bucks. Score.

I hope this helps some of my thick-waisted friends out there :)  I know a lot of women have the opposite problem--many pear shaped gals I know really hate the huge gap they get in the back of their waistband. The solution there is to simply sew two darts into the back, centered over the pockets.