Refitting a garment at the seams
Reducing the volume of a garment by taking it in at the seams can have a major impact on its overall look. Follow these steps to give a fresh, refined feel to your tops, dresses, jeans, skirts, T-shirts, and knitwear. Basically any unlined garment is fair game!
| You will need | pins, fabric-marking tool, tape measure, hand-sewing needle, color-matched thread, scissors/thread snips, fabric scissors |
| Sewing machine? | Use a straight stitch where a running stitch is indicated in step 4 |
Top Tip
Resist the urge to make your garment overly fitted. You still need to move, reach, bend, and sit down comfortably in it. Remove a conservative amount of material to begin with; you can always pinch more out later.
1 Try the garment on in front of a mirror. You can make skirts, trousers, dresses, and tops more form-fitting by pinching out fabric at the side seams; and you can slim down sleeves at the seam, too. Play around with pinching out fabric along the seams with your fingers and/or pins to find the look you want; it’s easier to do this with the item the right way around. Remove any pins.
2 Take off the garment, turn it inside out, and put it back on. Recreate your desired look by placing pins parallel to the seam to indicate a new stitching line. Make sure you reduce the volume evenly on both sides of the garment. Carefully take the garment off with the pins still in place.
3 Lay the garment out on a flat surface. Use a fabric-marking tool to mark the new stitching line shown by the pins. Blend the new stitching line smoothly into the original stitching. Repeat on the other seam. Use a tape measure to check that the same amount is being taken out of both seams. Remove the pins.
4 Stabilize the stitching line by placing pins perpendicular to the seam. Prepare your needle and thread as in step 2. Use running stitch along your marked line (refer to steps 4–6, if necessary); repeat on the other side of the garment. Trim excess fabric ⅝in (1.5 cm) away from the new stitching line.