Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Refashioning: Quick Alterations for Tank Tops and Pants

I have an unlikely body for a Type 4. (If you don't know what that is, go here.) Most Type 4s have "T" shaped bodies. I think this is where my secondary Type 1 comes in, physically. I have what some would call a "cuter" frame. I have called it in the past a "crappy" frame. However, I am learning to love it. Especially now that I know exactly how to dress to look good and don't have to guess anymore.

(Really, click on that red "here" up there. You're missing out if you don't. . .Unless you're a man. In which case, why are you reading this?)


All righty then. So, when I shop for tank tops, the classic "Jessica problem" is for the straps to be made for a football player and not me. This is how I fix it. I put the tank top on, and pull the straps up off my shoulders till the neckline hits where I want it. I measure that extra portion of strap with my finger. Then, I take the tank off and cut the strap right at the base on the back of the shirt. Then, using my fingered measurement, I cut that much off the strap and then sew the end back on. (Sorry, I forgot to take pictures while I did this, because I was powering through. A lot of the next few blogs actually happened on the same day and stuff.)




Here is a close up of the sewed-back-on strap. I used a zig-zag stitch.










All right. The next one you will probably think is weird, but I'm gonna post it in case it gives someone an idea. When I buy skinny pants/jeans, I buy them at least one or two sizes too big, because I don't like when pants are super super tight-I-don't-care-how-skinny-you-think-you-are. This upsizing means, that they are usually too big in the waist. Alert readers will recall a fix to a similar problem here. But, let's just say you are fresh out of elastic and your pants are made of jersey. Here is another method:

You can see that these pants are too big in the waist. It looks like I'm stretching them, but I'm not. I'm just holding the waistband. 






I turned them inside out, put them on, and then pinched both sides till the waist band was flush with my waist. Then, I pinned one side carefully and took them off. 









Then, I just sewed up the sides.




They stay up now!




(Later, I took in a little more from the inseam because they were still too baggy in the "crotchal region," so...There you go!)




The End!













1 comment:

  1. You are SO clever! I am going to do this! Thanks Jessica!!

    ReplyDelete