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Clothing is made to fit an average body that doesn’t exist. It’s the average measurements of people done by doctors from more than fifty years ago. It’s really hard to get ready to wear clothing fit you perfectly right off the rack. It’s great to learn simple ways to alter clothes to get a beautiful, custom fit. A custom fit is the best way to make your clothing look well-made and expensive.
There are lots of ways to alter clothes like lengthening or shortening hems, taking in the sides or letting out the sides, adding darts or removing darts, lengthening or shortening sleeves, mending holes, etc.
There is no end to what you can do with clothing, and you can even do additionaly refashions like adding a skirt, chopping off sleeves, and adding pockets to make something you love.
A lot of these clothing alterations work well for women’s clothing, but the majority of these work for all: men, women, and children. You can always take excess fabric in, and you can often let clothing out by using the side seams or adding fabric.
The Basics of altering clothing:
Learn how to make a shirt bigger by sewing fabric panels into each side seam. This is a great fix for shirts that are just a little tight. I made this shirt severals years ago, and I love everything about it except that it’s just a little too tight. Because of this I never pull…
Learn how to hem jeans by measuring the desired length, cutting off the excess fabric, and sewing a new hem. It’s a beginner sewing project! Buying clothing from the store is great except that it fits an average measurement that doesn’t actually exist. It’s always hard to get the exact right length of jeans so…
Instead of throwing away a sweater that has a hole in it, you can easily mend it! It’s an easy fix to give a new life to any sweater! I love wearing warm, snuggly sweaters in crisp, cold weather. But what do you do if your sweater gets a snag or a hole? I love…
Learn how to cut leggings into shorts. If your leggings have holes in the knees this is a great way to still use them as shorts! Have you worn holes in the knees of your leggings, or the knees are starting to bag out? Turn those leggings into shorts! It’s a great way to keep…
Learn how to add a side pocket to leggings perfect for a phone. Leg pockets are my favorite pocket to have on leggings! One of my favorite things to do while working out is listen to music or an audiobook, so I always need my phone with me. And lets be honest, I often wear…
Learn how to add sleeves to a strapless dress by sewing on thick straps and flutter sleeves. This is a quick alteration to make a dress more wearable! Strapless and sleeveless dresses might be easy to find, but they are a little uncomfortable to wear if you are always worrying about them staying up. It’s…
Learn how to take in the waist of jeans with elastic for a quick and simple fix. This alteration is great for getting the waistband of jeans to fit! Do you ever get a great pair of jeans that fit everywhere except for your waist? Whenever you bend over your waistband gaps a lot in…
Learn how to take in the waist of pants for a better fit. This works best when the pants fit you everywhere except for the waist. It’s always hard to find ready to wear clothing that fits perfectly. We all have perfect non-average bodies that need special fitting. (Did you know that celebrities get all…
Learn how to lengthen pants by letting out the hem and rehemming with a hidden bias hem tape. This technique works well on dress pants. I’m updating this post with some new pictures and more information. There’s a tutorial for lengthening skinny pants and a tutorial for lengthening cropped wide leg pants. One uses single…
Learn how to crop a sweatshirt that is too long. Shorten a sweater three different ways by cropping, hemming, and resewing the waistband. I ordered a sweatshirt to make a Christmas inspired top, but the sweatshirt came too long. It’s always frustrating when you buy something, and it doesn’t fit the way you want it…
Learn how to shorten sweater sleeves that are too with just a sewing machine. Make sleeves the right length and keep the nice ribbed cuff. Sometimes you find the perfect sweater, but the sleeves are just a little too long. I do not often have this problem, but I used to work at a tailor…
Learn how to add a pocket to leggings to hold your phone or keys. It’s annoying not having pockets, and this is a simple way to add a center back waistband pocket. I have gotten in the habit of walking or running eery morning since everything shut down in March. (Not having to get my…
Learn all these sewing and alterations you can do yourself to make your wardrobe fit well and last longer. Don’t pay for these alterations! Clothing is made to fit an average body that doesn’t exist. It’s the average measurements of people done by doctors from more than fifty years ago. It’s really hard to get…
Learn how to cinch a waist of a dress or a shirt with elastic. It’s the quickest and easiest way to bring in the waist and make it more flattering. I made this dress last fall and have loved wearing it. It’s a beautiful print, and I think it works well for Fall, Winter, or…
If a blouse fits in the bust or hips, but it’s too large in the shoulders use this the alteration. Learn to alter shoulders on a blouse for a custom fit. Sometimes when you buy a blouse it fits really well in the bust or it fits really well in the hips, but the shoulders…