Christine Sews

Do you have a pair of pants that fit in the waist and bottom, but the thighs are enormous?  Want to get rid of the clown pant look?  A simple alteration can fix them for you, and very quickly.

How to Alter Pants for Thin Thighs:

1. Turn the offending pants inside out and put them on.  Yes, put them on inside out.
2. Get a water soluble marker, or chalk and draw a line where you hand and the pen fall naturally, which should be about the top of the thigh.
3. Make a second line on the same pant leg at the knee.
4. If you are right handed, do steps 2 and 3 on the right side.  If left handed, mark the left leg.
5. Take off the pants and place your marks in matching positions on the opposite leg.  Make additional marks on the inside knee position, opposite the original knee marks.



6. Machine baste from the top outer mark to the knee mark.  Start at the top mark, veering in to take up as much extra fabric as needed.  Then when you get to the knee mark, veer toward the seam line smoothly.  Repeat on the other leg.
7. Baste from the inner knee mark down to the hem line.  Repeat on the opposite leg.  (If you don’t do this; the pants will twist.)
8. Try on the pants to see if you have taken in the pants enough. Repeat the basting until it looks right.
9. Once you are satisfied with the results, permanently stitch the alteration in place.

Sewing Tips and Notes:

• This is an adjustment for women who tend to gain weight in their waist, not hips and thighs.  It can be used with mixed results with men who also gain at the waist.
• Pants will often drape strangely if the pant legs are too big.  Take in 1/2 to 1/4 inch at a time during the basting process to adjust.  When the pant legs are straight and don’t look huge you have it right.
• Pants shown are two different pairs of velour yoga pants.  But this alteration actually looks even better on woven pants.  I just forgot to take photos when I marked and altered those.

Once again, my apologies for mediocre photography.  It seems that no matter what I learn about photographing fabric, a new challenge will appear.

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