3 Simple Alterations that Take 10 Minutes or Less
Looking for ways to upcycle and give new life to some of your clothes? Read below for some simple alteration tips that take less than 10 minutes and can be done without a sewing machine!
Alter your pants
I got these pants over a year ago and never wore them because instead of looking like stylish ankle pants, they just looked like when I got too tall for my pants growing up. Do you have any pants that need some reshaping? Try this quick alteration to tighten the ankle:
1. Put the pants on inside out and pull the pant leg together until you see how you want them to fit, and clip (or pin) the fabric there
2. Send them through the sewing machine or hand stitch if you don’t have one (there are plenty of tutorials of simple stitches on youtube), sewing a line down along the inside of the clips and towards the bottom clip (angling in towards the red one I have in my pictures).
flip the pants right side out. That’s it!
2. Shorten your dress’ shoulder straps to change the
fit of your dress
Does your dress hang too long for your liking? Follow this alteration tip to save some of those clothes hanging around! I got this dress from Synergy Organic Clothing on final sale about a year ago and crossed my fingers it would fit well. I have worn it zero times, so I decided to alter it and finally get it closer to a fit I wanted by shortening the straps. Read below to learn how!
1. Get an idea of where you want to stitch your straps in order to raise the dress. I did this by pinching together the straps in different places to get an idea of where I needed to stitch to get the length I wanted, and then I just used a clothespin to mark that spot.
2. Flip the dress inside out
3. Sew horizontally across the straps to stitch them together and then cut off remaining straps that will no longer be part of the dress
4. For added security, you can add an extra stitch where the fabrics meet or, if you have a sewing machine, the machine’s stitches will be strong enough
5. Flip it right side out and enjoy!
3. Tighten your dress sleeves if you’re not a fan of the
flowy look
These dress sleeves have always been a little too pilgrim-y for me, so I am finally taking care of them. Do you have a dress with sleeves you’re not a fan of? Follow the steps below to rework them!
Flip the dress inside out
Put it on and pin / clothespin where you want to tighten them
3.Take off the dress and lay flat, leaving it inside out
4.Stitch from the clip across to the seam where the sleeve is attached (following the blue arrow)
5.Flip it right side out and you’re done!
You can see the difference between the two sleeves in the final picture below—the left sleeve is tightened so it lays flatter. It’s subtle, but sometimes that’s all it takes to fall back in love with a dress you own!
And there you have it! 3 simple alterations that take less than 10 minutes! Be sure to sign up for email updates to receive sustainable living tips straight to your inbox!