Thrifty Wardrobe DIYs: Update Your Pants Cheap and Easy and Save Hundreds.

How I converted all my flare leg jeans, sweats, and yoga pants to skinny leg and saved myself a TON of money.  Seriously... SO EASY.

Not only does this work for what you have, but the knowledge of just how easy this is to do can save you a lot of $$ if you are a major thrift shopper like me.  All those pants that are out of style and get SUPER DUPER MARKED DOWN can easily be converted to current fashion, saving you big time!  Just make sure the waist and butt of the pant are pleasing/ fit well first, because waistlines are much harder to alter, so in my book, not worth the hassle of the savings.

The one downside to knowing how to alter clothes is that it makes it harder to get rid of clothes. Your brain says, "I can totally make these work again!"


Materials:

Oversized or flare leg jeans or pants.

Safety pins (I've used regular sewing pins, but you run the risk of getting stuck!)

Sewing machine

Thread that matches your pants

Scissors

Chalk or pencil


Procedure:

1. Put your pants on inside out.

2. Pull the inside seam with one hand so that the outside seam is touching your legs. Using safety pins, pin your pants all the way down the legs to the narrowness you want.  Make sure to leave a little extra room near your ankles so that your pants will slide on and off.  I always take pants in from the inside seam because it is the least noticeable seam. It leaves the nice, professional looking, and more-visible outside seam untouched!




3. Do the same thing with the other leg.

4. Remove your pants and lay them on a flat surface.  Using chalk draw a clean line connecting the pinned areas.  Try to make sure it doesn't have any major curves or edges, because it will look funny when they are done.



5. Sew your pants along your chalk line.  Use a wide and short zig-zag stitch for stretchy pants like yoga and sweat pants, and even some really stretchy jeans. You can use a straight stitch for pants that are not stretchy.



6. Try on your pants inside out again to make sure they still fit well and you are happy with your seam.



7. Cut off the excess fabric.



8. Zig-Zag the edge of your seam to prevent fraying if your pants are not made of knit material (i.e. jersey/ t-shirt material).



9. Turn them inside out and enjoy your new pants!