The more professional way to take in a the waistband and legs tutorial

pants: thrifted/altered jcrew   top: oasap

Thrifted these jcrew "high heel wide leg pants" from  a garage sale a few weeks back and have been itching to fix them. They just needed a little tightening in the booty and waistband. I didn't want to just pinch, mark, pin, sew, and serge up the sides...this time I wanted to make it look as if I bought it in my size. And it was surprisingly easy and fun to do, despite the seam ripper being used often (I hate seam ripping). 

This tutorial is also great if you are one with bigger hips or booty and a small waist (lucky you)! Which means you have an annoyingly loose waistband that gapes opens when you sit or bend over. Annoying! So this will fix the problem!

I stole/borrowed this tutorial from the talented Susan of Freshly-picked...she does it just a tad differently  - she unpicks the side seams, sews it back up with the front side of the pants just moved in to keep the front pocket the same size. Awesome!

Photos by the talented Sami....turned out amazing! 

Supplies:

pants

seam ripper

sewing machine

thread

Instructions:

1. mark where you will want to take in your pants in the waist and down the leg in a thin taper.

2. seam rip the topstitches of the pant leg a few inches where the tapering will end.

3. pin the seam ripped part open and flat.

4. pin the rest of the leg. Sew along the markings and taper to the seam ripped opening. Don't sew an inch from the top if you want to work on the waistband.

5. This is how it will look on the outside.

6. Re-topstitch the outside of the pant legs to make it look like it did originally.

7. seam rip open the waistband at the sides a few inches and the belt loop if needed.

8. open up the waistband and fold it inside out and pin.

9. Take the upper part of the leg and finish off that inch you left from the part earlier.

10. cut and serge the extra fabric.

11. Fold it back down and pin under.

12. Topstitch back into place.