How to Do Simple Alterations to Clothing

Sometimes an outfit will fit perfectly for a while but then a person will loose or gain weight and that same outfit no longer fits properly. You could bring the pants and shirt to a professional tailor for alterations or you could do simple alterations yourself.

Heming

1. Put on the skirt or pants you wish to hem.


2. Stand on a chair while a friend uses either a straight pin or tailor's chalk to mark where you want the hem to be on the garment.


3. Take the pants or skirt off and turn the pants or skirt inside out.


4. Using a straight pin, pin up the bottom of the material to where the chalk mark or pin is to form the hemline. Do this all the way around the skirt or all the way around each pant leg.


5. Thread a sewing needle with sewing thread that matches your article of clothing. Make sure the thread is a strong weight type.


6. Knot the end of the thread.


7. Start at the seam of the garment and push the needle through the seam and the piece of material that was folded up. Picking up a bit of the piece of material and the pant leg or skirt with the needle, use a whipstitch to hem the garment.

Letting out a Seam

1. Check the seams in the article of clothing you want to let out. Make sure there is enough room to let out in each side of the garment. If it is a dress, you will need to let it out on the front and the back if there are only two sides; if there are four panels to the dress, then let out eight seams.


2. Draw a new seam, using tailor's chalk, about a half inch from the original seam on all the existing seams. Mark with a dotted line. 


3. Using a sewing machine, sew along the dotted chalk line.


4. Using a ripper, rip out the existing or first seam. Be careful not to rip the fabric.


5. If needed, press the seams with a hot iron.