Tuesday, January 31, 2012

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.

10 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. genious! im definitely thicker at the waste than i should be! those pants look UHmaaaaazing on you! im super jealous at the score of a good deal too! well done! :)

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  3. You are a genius. My corduroy pants are too tight to be comfy around the waist... maybe I'll have to ponder my ability to do this too...

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  4. This is so helpful! Thank you! I linked over from your review on Pattern Review about Simplicity 2017. Such a cute dress- I can't wait to try it!

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  5. brilliant! brave--but brilliant! I'm afraid you inherited the waist thing from my side :/--but we more than make up for it in other areas don't we? Yes we do

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  7. Thank you for this post. I need the extra room now too.

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  8. This is soooo perfect and exactly what I was looking for! Thank you so much for posting pics!!! Your pants came out great!!!

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  9. This looks to be the perfect solution for my grandsons new school pants. I'm going to give it a try. size 10 too tight in the waist, but size 12 way to big thighs and crotch. Thanks for the tip.

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  10. this looks like the perfect solution for my grandsons new school pants. Size 10 too tight in the waist, size 12 to big in the thigh and crotch. thanks for the tip. your pants came out looking great!

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