First off, I am not what you would consider a great sewist (I was going to say sewer, but the internet tells me that sewist is now the proper word and less likely to be confused with the place that takes water and waste away in the city). I’m not even a good sewist. I’m more like a problem solver by way of sewing sewist.
As you all know, I loooove thrifting. But occasionally there may be a bit of a fit issue. So, I figure I can try to fix it myself. What’s the worst that can happen?!
It is SO easy to hem a dress that is too long or even tighten a cuff of an otherwise great pair of jeans. So, I figured I’d write up little blog post showing you JUST how simple it is to do.
Easy Sewing Project #1: Hemming
It is the easiest because you literally are just measuring and then sewing a straight line. I hemmed a dress a few weeks ago and took a couple quick photos:
The purple patterned dress is the length I like. The blue patterned dress is too long. So, I measured the distance and then used the pins to pin the blue dress up about 3” shorter.
I sewed a straight line.
Then, I cut away the extra fabric.
THAT’S IT.
It’s so easy that I felt kind of silly adding photos. {Click here to see the before/after from my outfit post in Instagram}
Easy Sewing Project #2: Adjusting the Fit of Pants
Over the weekend, I did another little fixer project with a pair of thrifted jeans. I found a pair of black jeans back in June that fit great… but the bottom of the leg was more of a straight leg fit, which made it hard to wear them with boots. You can see them by clicking the arrow on this post. I tried cuffing them, but they looked silly. So I packed them away for the summer and figured I’d deal with them when the weather got cool again.
Which was on Sunday. So, I decided to take less than 10 minutes and make them awesome.
First, I grabbed a pair of jeans that fit the way I like them to and laid them on top of the black jeans that I wanted to fix.
I turned the black jeans inside out and used a silver sharpie to mark the extra fabric by tracing my good jeans.
Then, I sewed a straight line.
I turned them back right-side-out and tried them on:
After a couple small adjustments, they fit perfect, so I went ahead and cut off the extra fabric.
And THAT’S IT!
You guys. It’s so easy.
My sewing machine was a gift back when I was in college and I still use it regularly to do some easy sewing. You don’t really need anything fancy – I checked around and there are some entry-level sewing machines for just $85. Here’s one at Walmart and here’s one available on Amazon.
So now I want to know… do you sew? If not, why?
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I’ve never altered my own clothes but DANG this post makes it seem easy. I know you wouldn’t lie to us, so I may put these instructions into action. It doesn’t seem as intimidating now. Thanks!
It is super easy! Especially when you thrifted the item and don’t have that much invested in it!
I have a bad memory of sewing a dress in what used to be called home ec. class. I wore the dress to school, as was required of us, and felt it was going to fall apart, all day wondering when the seams would come apart, (coming apart at the seams?)leaving me nude! I made it through the day, but could never deal with the stress of wearing it again. So that was it for that dress. Maybe I could start with a purse, and work my way up. You did such a great job, though!
Thanks Nancy! Sewing a full dress from a pattern is much more difficult! People who can do that confidently are pretty amazing!