The Clothes Alteration does save you money, but it also gives you more clothing options! Knowing how to alter clothes is important for every sewer.
TL;DR – Great Clothes Alteration
- Clothes alteration helps you save money and expand your wardrobe options by making almost-right pieces fit perfectly.
- Common areas that often need adjusting include the neckline, armholes, long sleeves, and bustline to improve comfort, shape, and confidence.
- For bottoms, learning to alter pant waists and pant legs lets you fix loose or baggy fits using simple techniques like darts, Velcro, and tracing from a well-fitting pair.
- With basic alteration skills, you can confidently buy pieces that are slightly too big or off in fit and customize them to your body instead of passing them up.
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Clothes Alteration Can Make a Dress Perfectly Fit
1. Neckline
Altering necklines or collars can be confusing due to the different fabrics and stitches used, but practice makes perfect. Nobody wants an unintended loose neckline! Common tricks to alter a big neckline include using the gathering technique, binding, or correcting the garment from the shoulder.
2. Armholes
Loose armholes can make or break clothing, which can also accidentally break your arms. It could also create undesirable creases across the chest. Perfect armholes will give you the confidence to let loose and enjoy! So, how to do it?There are three common ways to fix loose armholes:
- First, add a dart from the bust apex of the dress by pinching the fold on the wrong side of the fabric, then sew the fold.
- Second, add a band or binding by easing any extra fabric into the armhole.
- Third, add decorative lingerie elastic and sew it around the armhole.
3. Long Sleeves
Even if loose sleeves seem to be in right now with the recent cold season, it could also be quite inconvenient. A great long-sleeved dress I didn’t buy comes to mind because it’s too long and loose for me. Avoid that situation by learning how to alter your own! The most common trick to refer to loose sleeves is to stitch in one continuous line from the armhole up to the opening of the sleeves.RELATED: Basic Sewing Machine Parts Every Beginner Should Know
4. Bustline
If the dress is not perfect for our bustline, this is awkward and can make us uncomfortable.
Another trick to alter the bustline is to sew Velcro inside your dress. Sew a strip of Velcro to the sides of the dress, under your arms. Use the soft and curved edge in case it rubs against your skin.
5. Pant Waist
Constantly pulling on your pants can be annoying and embarrassing. Save yourself from the inconvenience and embarrassment by learning how to alter your too-big pants and jeans! To alter the waistline, all you need is to refer to the center back of the pants. You need to remove the belt loop first, then measure how much fabric you need to take out. Use pins to mark the point you want to refer to, then start sewing from the mark.
Tip: You can also use Velcro to alter the Pants’ Waist.
6. Pant Legs
Some people prefer their pants to be loose, while others don’t. I belong to the last group. The formal and sophisticated look and snug pant legs will get you far. The number one hack to alter a baggy pair of pants is to get perfect-fit jeans and use them as a guide. Lay the fitting pants on top of the baggy jeans, then trace.
Tip: Make sure you line up the crotches of the jeans outside their leg seams before tracing them.
Want to know how to slim down a shirt? Check out this video by Will Beauty:
Learning how to alter your clothes will give a lot of advantages to your daily life! It certainly widens your choices. In Clothes Alteration, you can buy a slightly large but unique dress you like and alter it according to your fit! Then you can wear new clothes without spending too much.
Did this article help you? Which one do you think you’ll be using soon? Let us know in the comments section below!
