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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 cover a hole in jeans without mending or visible stitches. This is great for coverage behind holes without sacrificing the destroyed look. Sometimes you wear out a pair of jeans until it has holes. Sometimes you buy jeans to look a certain way that has holes and frayed sections. If you like…
Learn how to mend a hole in jeans. It’s common for jeans to get holes in the knees, so this is a strong way to close the hole and it’s almost invisible. I used to work at a tailor shop and we mended holes in jeans all the time. It was a really common fix….
Learn how to raise a neckline of a dress with this simple sewing tutorial. Fix a low cut neckline of a prom dress or any formal dress. It’s really hard to find a dress that is exactly what you are looking for. There’s always something a little bit wrong with the fit, style, or color….
Learn how to line a dress for modesty and coverage you are comfortable with. Line the bodice of a lace dress or the sleeves of a lace dress. I love wearing lace and sewing with lace. Lace has such a beautiful texture and can be so feminine. And there are so many different styles of…
Learn how to add back darts to dress for a better fit! This alteration is great to make your dresses fit better and add shaping in the back. Ready-to-wear clothing is made to fit an average woman that doesn’t really exist. Sometimes you need to make simple alterations to your clothing to make them look…
Make your dress that is too short fit better with one of these two great sewing tutorials. Learn how to make a dress longer with lace or with fabric. If you are like me you don’t long wearing dresses that are too short. I’m taller than average and have a really hard time finding dresses…
Learn how to add sleeves to a dress. This sewing tutorial works well with any sleeveless dress or a dress with straps. Dress shopping is hard because there’s so many options in so many stores. You might find the perfect dress except that it doesn’t have sleeves. Depending on the event you are attending, you…
Learn how to shorten sleeves of a button up shirt to get the right fit. This is a simple alteration to make your sleeves the right length. Everyone needs alterations to make your clothes fit. Clothes are made to fit an arbitrary average that doesn’t actually exist. You can shorten the sleeves of a button…
Learn how to hem jeans by reusing the original hem. Shorten your denim pants and keep the same look! Jeans are purchased with a loved and worn look. All the edges have a little bit of color loss. If your jeans are too long, then you don’t want to lose the unique details on the…
Learn how to shorten a sweater or a jumper that is too long with a sewing machine. This sewing tutorial keeps the ribbing intact for a professional finished hem. It can be very frustrating when a sweater is too long, and it just doesn’t look right. It’s hard to wear or the proportions are off….
Learn how to lengthen sleeves of a jacket using a sweater or socks. This is a great upcycle for gettings sleeves to be long enough! With this simple refashion tutorial and a sweater, you can learn how to lengthen sleeves of a jacket or coat! This would be a great gift for someone with long arms!…
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 lengthen a t-shirt with a waistband. This is a great sewing tutorial for t-shirts that are too short! Remember my post where I compared a couple of different fabrics? Well, two of those shirts shrunk a little, and I really wanted to lengthen them so that I would actually wear them. The…
Learn how to sew back darts to get the best fit on your top or dress. It’s a simple way to pull in a waist. I finished this woven tee in the middle of the summer and liked it except I realized after putting it on that the back was pooling. One way to get…
Learn how to fix a torn pocket on suit pants. Suit pants often rip at the base of the pocket opening due to stress and it’s easy to repair! One of the most common tears on a pair of men’s suit pants is when they rip right under the front pocket. The pockets always get…
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