How to alter clothing at home?

charkai

Hi... I've lots of suits at home that are slightly too big for me now, and I was wondering whether anyone knew how to alter waistbands on trousers and shortening the length of jacket sleeves. It seems such a shame to have to go and spend a fortune buying more suits. Have looked on the web but can't seem to find any sites other than for dressmakers/tailors/dry cleaners.

many thanks,
char

COOLTRIKERCHICK

the jacket sleeves you could just turn in and tack them up.. a bit like shortening trs..and then steam/iron the end so you have a nice stright line finish.....

with the trs its hard to say... depending in the type of trs....

but as a suggestion.... you could buy a wide bit of elastic...and sew it at the back or both sides of the trouser waist..( on the inside) making sure that the elastic is stretched a bit when you are sewing.. so when you finish sewing the elastic.. should 'pull in' the waist a bit....they would be a bit like the slimma trousers that you can buy....

or you could take them in by folding a bit of the waist band and sew... sorry i am not very good at explaining....

plus it all depends really on how much they need to be taken in.....

you could also see if there is a sewing club/coarse in your area.. that may do it for you for a small fee....

Ches

I think most dry cleaners do alterations. May be a bit pricy but cheaper than buying new suits.

If you prefer to tackle it yourself then to shorten sleeves you would need to unpick the lining at the base of the sleeve. Turn up and press the hem of the sleeve and redo the lining turning up the exces material and slip stitching in place.

For the waistbands I would unpick the waistband and remove. Take in the excess material so it fits around the waist and then replace the waistband (making sure the excess waistband is the button side not the buttonhole side) trim and stitch back into place.

Both are fiddly jobs but good luck.

pigpen

if the trousers only need taking in a little you could just make darts in the back to pull it in a little.. anything more than about 2 inches make it look pleaty lower down so not really advisable!

Pin fabric in a V shape about 1-1.5 inches at the top and stitch straight up in a line, it will make a neat stitched seam up the back which should be barely noticable..

The sleeves as said above.. they do take some pressing in to a new seam though.

jinny

If they are a couple of sizes too big they should really be "remodelled" to fit
You might be better off selling them and buying your new size. However trousers are easier to reshape, the v seam at the back waist can be taken in quite a lot. The jacket will hang off your shoulders if too big, a local tailor/ress will advise.