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how to adjust the waist of your pants/jeans in 4 easy steps

My “Finished on Friday” project this week has turned into a tutorial. I think you are going to love it. I had written a similar tutorial about a month ago complete with pictures. Something just didn’t feel right about it, though. I figured there must be an easier way to tackle this problem. Then I found a great fitting pair of jeans at the thrift store. The secret: a “comfort elastic waistband.” See how the elastic is incorporated around the entire waist?

take in pants jeans at the waist

Then my friend Amy commented on my frustrations taking in the waist on these pants. “When I have encountered that I sometimes just open the side seam in the waistband area and thread new elastic right over the old.”

Aha! Remember my adjustable elastic tutorial? This is kind of the same, but better. The elastic goes around the entire waist, so there’s no bunching up in any one place. The fabric is evenly distributed for a smoother finish.

You can even do this without a sewing machine as long as you don’t mind a little hand stitching.

take in pants jeans at the waist

Materials
3/4″ or 1″ wide elastic
small, sharp pair of scissors
Fray Check
pin, needle and thread

Step 1
Snip two holes on either side of the waist to create a casing for the elastic — one just inside the buttonhole/snap and the other just inside the button/other snap. Make sure your scissors don’t go through to the other side! Apply Fray Check to the raw edges.

Step 2
Thread the elastic through the casing and secure with stitches on one side. (My thread matched the denim a little too well. The arrow is pointing to the stitches. If you look really close, you’ll see them.)

Step 3
Try on pants and pull on the elastic until you’ve got a good fit.

Step 4
Pin elastic in place, take off pants and secure with stitches on the other side. Trim excess elastic.

That’s it! Totally easy! You can do this to any pants that:

  • fit your hips, but are too big in the waist
  • fit everywhere except that annoying gap in the back
  • are made of denim without that 2% of spandex to make then snap back into shape after one wearing
  • need to tide you over while you lose weight and fit into the next size
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new (to me) tablecloth

tablecloth refashion

I’m starting with an after picture so you’ll see the pretty new tablecloth first. I’m a little bit embarrassed posting the before picture, but I guess when you publicly make a commitment to finishing up some long overdue projects, that’s what happens. In my defense, the chair at the end of the table usually covers up the orange tablecloth. Here it is:

tablecloth refashion

Some history: a few years ago we ordered a table base online and had a local guy make the top for us. Our plan was to stain it the same color as our cabinets. The stain gives me a headache, so it needs to be done outside. There aren’t a lot of good days for that with Nebraska’s cold winters and windy summers. I bought the red striped tablecloth to help protect the unfinished wood.

Then my daughter got to the drinking-milk-out-of-a-cup stage, followed by spilling-milk-on-the-table stage and I needed something to protect the wood better. The vinyl tablecloth I found was too big, but it matched our decor. It’s nice for messy group projects, like carving pumpkins or birthday parties. I figured I’d wait to hem it until I found a more permanent tablecloth.

Fast forward to last week: I finally found the perfect tablecloth. Unfortunately it was too small, but fortunately there were two! I cut off the extra, serged the ends and unpicked the hems for a “seamless” seam.

tablecloth refashion

The extra fabric will become matching pillow cushion covers for the adjoining room. And the vinyl tablecloth finally got hemmed! I’m not sure what I’m going to do with the extra vinyl fabric. Any suggestions?

thrifted: original tablecloth was on clearance at Target, but all of the others are from local thrift stores.

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little thrifted turkey

turkey beanie baby

Yesterday while I was digging through all of that yarn, my daughter asked me if I could crochet her a turkey for Thanksgiving. Geez, that’s not a lot of time to get something like that finished. I told I’d see what I could do to get her a little turkey by Thursday.

When we got home, I checked to make sure this little guy was still in my closet. I got him a few years ago at a garage sale. There were boxes and boxes of brand new beanie babies. I spied this turkey and thought it might make a cute gag gift for my brother some day. (He’s a die hard Hokie.)

I hope my daughter will be ok with the fact that I didn’t make it. Oh, and sorry Phil. No little turkey for you.

To those who are celebrating today, Happy Thanksgiving!

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my creative space

In my creative space today I’m untangling this beautiful mess of yarn. It’s not as bad as it looks, at least I hope it’s not. There are three hanks that are loosely tied. If I can get them on the swift properly, it should be smooth sailing.

thrifted yarn

Where did I get such interesting yarn? I got a phone call yesterday while I was shopping for groceries.

kelly: I’m at the thrift store and there are huge tubs of beautiful yarn that are only 99 cents each.
me: Thanks for thinking of me, but I have so much yarn.
kelly: Yes, but some of this stuff looks hand dyed. It’s really beautiful.
me: Can you send a picture?

thrifted yarn

I think she sent four pictures, actually. One of those “tubs” was a large bin on wheels. I felt weak. A little defeated by my desire for pretty yarn that I really don’t need. I drove up to the store.

thrifted yarn

I exercised tremendous restraint and bought only six skeins. The pink/purple/blue skein is for my daughter. I let her pick out one because she was so patient while I dug through that big bin. I also bought her some stickers.

I’m a little early posting my creative space today. Make sure you check out Kirsty’s blog later today for more spaces.

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size matters not…

big knitting needles large crochet hook

…judge me by my size, do you?*

I’ve always wanted to try knitting with a set of really big needles.

Do or do not… there is no try.*

Whenever I see them in the craft store I wind up passing them by because I’ve already got too many things on my to-do list.

The other day in the thrift store, when I was buying the black and white sweater, I happened upon this set and a big hook, too. At thrift store prices, I couldn’t pass them up. The needles are US size 35 and the hook is a size Q.

My wrists are starting to feel better. These might be the perfect way to ease back into things. I’m thinking Purl Bee’s Eleventh-Hour Scarf with some Manos del Uruguay from my stash might make a nice weekend project.

What crafty projects do you have planned for the weekend?

*Yoda

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my creative space

my creative space

My last flurry of crochet activity left me with very little black and white yarn in my stash. It also left me with tired wrists. I confess that I haven’t stitched a thing since last Saturday. I’m sure you know the feeling: one more stitch and you’ll be out of commission for way too long. Although, four days is an awfully long time for me. I think Sunday’s long stint in the kitchen chopping, peeling, stirring and dish washing didn’t help. Neither did all of that laundry folding. See where housework gets you?

Back to the yarn. I gave away most of my “amigurumi stash” of acrylic awhile ago because I wasn’t using it. I saved a few balls of neutral colors, but the Halloween critters used up most of that. I just happened to stumble across a black and white cotton/acrylic blend sweater at the thrift store yesterday. Crafty kismet! It was super easy to unravel and now I’m sitting her looking at my hook and trying to decide if I’m ready to start up again. Maybe I’ll just go to bed early tonight and start fresh tomorrow.

What’s in your creative space today? Check out the much more productive players over at Kirsty’s blog.

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can’t wait to unravel this sweater

cotton sweater for unraveling

I think my exact quote for the morning was, “You are not allowed to buy any more sewing machines and I am not allowed to buy anymore sweaters for unraveling.” But when my friend and I got separated at a street filled with garage sales, I had no one to help me with my will power. This sweater is so soft. The colors will look great in my house. I’m thinking join-as-you-go granny square lap blanket.

recycle: “…to take an unloved garment, destined for the landfill, salvage the wool, and give it a brand-new start as a beautiful knit gift; it’s sure to be appreciated by any recipient who loves the planet.” Lee Meredith

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thrifty thursday: metallic flats

zipper fabric bible cover

I’ve been watching a lot of What Not to Wear lately. Stacey and Clinton have got me thinking about my refashioning. I need to start picking items that are both easy to alter and will look good on my body shape.

One thing they recommend for my shape is a pointy toe shoe, which lengthens the leg line. They’ve also declared metallic shoes the new neutral and ok for daytime.

So of course when I saw these puppies in my size I had to get them. They look fabulous with my dark denim jeans.

thrifting: Church rummage sale.

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thrifty thursday: mmm-mmm-mmm good

retro campbell's soup thermos

I’ve been looking for a Campbell’s soup thermos for a few months. Every once and awhile I’ll run across one, but it’s either too expensive or not in the greatest condition. I was so excited to find these very clean ones while shopping the east campus garage sales.

Now that the cooler weather has arrived, we’ve been doing a lot of picnic lunches. I had this idyllic vision of my daughter and I sitting on a blanket eating homemade soup and watching the leaves fall. In reality, she doesn’t like soup, so she eats her pb+j and I have an Amy’s burrito (which fits in the thermos perfectly, by the way).

thrifting: I find that just around the time I give up hope finding an item, the thrifty fairies drop one in my path.