Q&A for How to Alter Pants

Yes, removing the excess fabric will make the pants more comfortable, and it will help the tapering stay in place.. You can trim it away with scissors. Just be sure you don't accidentally cut into the stitching.

It's not necessary, but ironing the pants along the new inseam and hemline will leave you with a neater, more finished look.

Try on the pants and pull them up to where you'd like them to sit comfortably. Pull the waistband away from your body, pinching the excess, and mark with chalk or pins where you're pinching. Make sure to mark both sides of the pinched fabric. Then, measure the distance between those two points to see how much you need to adjust the pants.

To decrease the waist size - If the elastic is in a casing, you need to open the casing and shorten the elastic and restitch the casing closed. If the original elastic is stitched through, especially with multiple rows of stitching, you really can't without creating an entirely new waistband casing with new elastic inside. If the elastic has gone bad, you need to remove the elastic, preserving as much of the fabric as possible in order to create a new waistband with a casing for the insertion of new elastic. There needs to be enough fabric depthwise left from the waist to the crotch in order to do this.

No, particularly in nicer pants. Sweatpants might have similar seams which is why they are baggy. Taking out the same amount from the front and back will often shorten the back too much. The crotch curves for pants front and back panels are slightly different shapes and lengths. It's better to rip out a portion of the crotch area, pin out the excess, and restitch. The amount taken out is usually different.

There is often extra fabric along the back seam. Use a seam ripper or thread scissors to take off the back center belt loop and rip the back seam down about 2 - 3 inches below the waistband. Pin the pieces back right-sides together. You may need use an iron to make a new crease in a thick waistband. Sew a new seam closer to the edge of the fabric. This seam should pick up where the prior seam left off below the waistband and gradually get closer to the edge of the fabric, being sure to leave at least a quarter inch. Reattach the belt loop to look like the other belt loops. Finally, iron the pants to remove the preexisting creases. This method should add about an inch to the waist.

Turning jeans into shorts is easy! Check out the wikiHow page called Make Denim Cut off Shorts to find step-by-step instructions.

You can make your pants fit tighter by taking in the waist. Start by removing the belt loop from the back of your pants with a seam ripper. Then, use the seam ripper to remove the stitches from the middle of the waist on the back of the pants. Turn the pants inside out and pin the fabric from the center seam with safety pins. Stitch the pinched fabric together and stitch the waistband back together to tighten the pants.

Yes, a tailor can make your pants slimmer. They can take in the waist so the pants fit more snugly around your hips. They can also taper the legs so they wrap tightly around your legs. If the crotch is too loose or baggy, a tailor can trim it back so the pants fit slimmer in that region as well.

The rise of a pair of pants refers to the distance between the crotch and the waist. A master tailor can shorten the rise on a pair of pants, but it's difficult and expensive. Increasing the rise on a pair of pants isn't possible without completely disassembling the pants.