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!"#"$%&'(%)*+#"$* !"#$%"#&$'()*+$,-./$()*$ ,#-01/2$(/$3&44$(/$"5#$$ 04(//$/0'&*54&2$6-/-,7 3338,'&,'#-9,+/,-,0'P"851 Sneaky jean Technique Jeans- There is nothing worse than jeans getting shortened and looking home done! This is my sneaky way of shortening whilst keeping the original .

Measure how much you want to shorten your jeans by. In the example pictures, i need to shorten my jeans by 3 inches Fold the hem upwards onto the right side of the jean , as if doing a turn up. Make a fold that is half the amount you want to shorten your jeans by. Measure this and very close to the original hem fold

Using the free-arm of your machine, very close to the original hem fold, all the way around the hem. On the seams you may need to use the needle wheel as the seams can be lumpy

Trim away the excess fold to around 1 cm and zigger over the edge, press this upwards inside the jean. Press again from the outside to ensure the fold is now flat.

www.thethriftystitcher.co.uk Taking things in

Essential equipment:

Sewing machine- can also be hand-sewn - a pin cushion is useful for storing these! Hand & needles A piece of tailorʼs chalk Quick unpicker - also called a ripper Measuring tape

Very few clothes fit us perfectly straight off the hanger- and it can often be only a minor adjustment that will make all the difference to the fit. The most common adjustments to clothes are taking them in, and letting them out.

Altering clothes with sleeves and waistbands can be more fiddly as you need to adjust those too, which involves unpicking waistbands and sleeves at the point you wish to alter. Taking in a small area-eg the hip area on a skirt-

Making clothes tighter is easier than letting them out. Try the garment on and have a friend pin the seams in the correct position.

Once you take the garment off you need to mark the position of the pins through to the wrong side. This can be done by tacking( I never do) or by carefully releasing the pins and pinning through a single a layer of the fabric. You can then mark the position of the new seam with chalk on the wrong side of your garment.

Making sure that the chalk line tapers neatly back into the old seam line and that it is a smooth line, you can pin the seam and stitch it

Unpick the old stitching between where your new lines taper in and out, this allows for the seam to be repressed open. If it is a closed seam(pressed to one side) like the sides of jeans you can leave the old stitches in)

Cut off excess fabric, if necessary; then finish the raw edge with a zig zag/pinking shears or www.thethriftystitcher.co.uk Taking things in

Taking in a shirt or garment with sleeves To take in a shirt or the bodice of a dress, you may have to remove the sleeves(or a section) and adjust the side seams, and possibly the seam on the sleeve. Measure the armhole before taking out the sleeve

Alter the side seams as above, and the sleeve seam if necessary and then re-set the sleeve into the armhole. You may need to reshape the armhole curve to make sure it hasn’t become too tight- use the original armhole measurement as a guide

Restitch the side seams and replace the sleeves. Taking in jeans First try on your jeans. Pull the side or the back to gauge how much waistband you could lose.If there is a lot then itʼs best to alter from the side seams

Then unpick your waist band. You will need about a 6 inch space of unpicked waist band. Mark a new stitch line as before. Sometimes to avoid the rivets you will need to unpick, and take the bulk from the back section of trouser. Stitch, and finish off the edge as before

Then you need to take in your waist band, by folding in half and making a new seam that is 1/2 of the width of the width that you took in your actual jeans.

Press everything, then the waistband, and replace any belt-loops if you removed them. Press again, and wear your jeans

www.thethriftystitcher.co.uk Letting things out

Letting out:

If there is sufficient , you can often solve the problem of tightness by opening the seams and restitching them closer to the raw edges. Sometimes it may be feasible to insert panels of extra fabric to provide additional width or length.

Turn your garment inside out. Use your measuring tape to see how much seam allowance you have. Some wedding gowns or cocktail dresses will intentionally have a lot of seam allowance to allow for letting out.

If your dress only has a 1/4" or less seam allowance, then there probably isnʼt enough to let out the dress.

Once you have determined whether or not you can make your dress larger, move on to marking out your new seam line as before without removing the original stitching

Once you have re stitched the new seam, unpick the original stitching and try on again to see if you have let it out enough.

When you are happy with the fit, press the seam open

www.thethriftystitcher.co.uk