Once in their lifetime everyone bought a pair of jeans that is loose from the waistband, and the only reason why you bought it in the first place might be because you liked the shade or color of the jeans. Besides that, another reason could be that you like to wear your mom’s jeans or dad’s jeans, but you can’t, because it is loose from the waistband. The only solution to this problem is to make the jeans’ waist smaller. How can you do that? Well, that is what I am going to tell you today in this step-by-step guide on how to make jeans waist smaller.
How to make jeans’ waist smaller?
There are various ways by which one can make the waist of jeans smaller. All methods are good and only depend on personal preference. And today we are going to discuss every method in this article.
If you have a pier-shaped body, then this DIY of making the waist small or tight will help you a lot. As women with prior body shape(where hips are wider than shoulders) struggle with the perfect fit around the waistline, especially with high-rise jeans where the waistband sits on top of the navel area.
Before altering or using any of the methods on your favorite jeans I recommend you to get your hands first on other pants or jeans.
Moreover, one should also know that these methods only work best if you want to make your waist small in a slight manner, like 1.5 or 2 inches smaller. Anything more than that can actually make your jeasn look odd from behind, as the pocket positioning will going to change. So, make sure the jeans you want to take in the waist are not too loose on you.
—Ways to make your jeans waist smaller or tight—
1. Use Elastic band
You will need a scissor, an elastic band 1″, a baby pin, and a small scissor if you want to make your jeans waist small by using this method.
Step 1: Turn your jeans inside out, and start making holes in the waistband of the jeans with the help of a scissor. While doing so, make sure the waistband of your jeans is not shrinking as that can lead to inaccurate measurements.
If there is any shrinkage or wrinkles on the jeans, iron them first, and then start the process.
After turning your jeans inside out, make two holes in the front, on both sides of the waist button, to allow the elastic band to go through it. The holes or slits should be equal in height and width to the waist button of the jeans.
Moreover, while making holes, make sure it is on the inner layer of the fabric of the waistband.
The holes should not be too big or too small, a 2 cm hole is perfect for an elastic band to go through it.
Step 2: Measure the waist with an elastic band where you want your jeans to sit. If your jeans are high-rise then that means, your pants will sit on your navel or slightly above. So measure it with an elastic band.
After taking your waist measurements, minus some inches down and cut the remaining elastic band, to make it go through the slits you have made.
Step 3: Use a safety pin or baby pin to make an elastic band go through the slits. If you are using a safety pin then attach it to one end of the elastic.
Step 4: Now put that end first inside the one hole and start pushing it with your fingers. This will take some time, and your fingers may get sore, but it is easy once you do it.
After clinching it over with your hand all the way, eventually the elastic will come out from the other end.
Step 5: Now, you can either add a safety pin on both to prevent the elastic from pulling back inside the jeans layer. It will also make your elastic band stick when you wash your jeans.
2. Sew the waistband from the sides
If you want to make the waist smaller in a professional way then use sew method, which is used by tailors to make the loose waist tight.
This method requires some practice and is not as easy as other methods discussed in this article.
For this method you need, a sewing machine, chalk, safety pin.
Step 1: Wear your jeans by turning them inside out. This is to make the measurement process easier.
Step 2: Pinch Or hold the extra fabric from one side. Now mark it with chalk. Now, do the same for the other sides. Make sure you pinch the fabric equally. Don’t forget to mark the excess fabric with tailor chalk as this is where you have to sew.
Step 3: Now remove your jeans, and use a safety pin to hold the pinched fabric. Apply pins by holding the excess fabric in your hand. Do this, for both sides.
Step 4: Now mark the line on which you have to sew with the help of the sewing machine. Mark the line in a way that it starts from the pin (pinched area) and starts inverting inwards as you go down until it meets the outer seam of the jeans.
Step 5: Now thread your sewing machine. While doing so, make sure the color of the thread is the same as that of your jeans. Moreover, you should also use polyester thread to provide strength in the sewing.
Step 5: Put your jeans under the sewing foot, and start sewing on the line you created with chalk. Use the small and straight stitch setting for sewing on jeans. Don’t forget to remove the pins before sewing.
Step 6: After you are done with one side, follow the same process for another side.
After that, you can wear your jeans without them sliding down all the time. Now, this is easy for some people, still, I recommend you first practice on jeans or pant that is useless. It only takes 10 to 20 minutes to develop this skill.
Now there is another method also for making your jeans’ waist smaller by sewing. Let’s find out
3. Sewing from the back
If you are used to sewing, then only you should use this method as this is the most difficult method of all to make the waist smaller. This is also used by tailors to make the waist smaller, and one of the clean and professional methods you can use on your jeans.
Step 1: To start, put on the jeans and mark where you want the new waistline to fall. Then, take them off and lay them flat on a table or other surface.
Step 2: Using a measuring tape or ruler, measure out how much smaller you want the waist to be, and mark this measurement on the fabric.
For example, if you’re taking in the waist by 1″, you’ll need to mark out a 1″ wide strip on the fabric.
Step 3: Cut along the marked line, being careful not to cut too close to the seam. You want to leave about ½” of fabric around the seam so that it doesn’t come undone when you sew it.
Step 4: Now it’s time to sew! Using a sewing machine or needle and thread, sew along the cut line, making sure to backstitch at the beginning and end.
Step 5: Try on the jeans to check the fit, and make any adjustments as needed. And that’s it! You’ve successfully taken in the waist of your jeans without having to alter the original seams.
4. Wash jeans in hot water
This is one simple method that doesn’t require much time and expertise. Before using this method, I want to make sure that your jeans are not pre-shrunk.
If your jeans are preshrunk then this is not an effective way to make a jeans waist smaller. Most high-quality brands make their jeans preshrunk means they shrink their jeans before even bringing them into the market.
This is to ensure the right fit and to avoid customer complaints. Brands like levis, make their jeans preshrunk which means levis jeans will not become tight after washing in hot water.
Besides this, other jeans like h&m and other local jeans can shrink up to 4 to 5 percent, after washing in hot water and this ultimately makes the waist smaller.
However, if you only want your jeans to get tight from the waist, then also you should go with any of the other methods.
Step 1: Fill a bucket full of hot water, and put your jeans inside it. Before that, make sure to turn your jeans inside out to avoid any fading and exposing the outer of the jeans.
Step 2: Use any stick to make sure the jeans go in water completely and don’t leave dried out.
Step 3: Wait for 5 to 10 minutes to let the water goes through the fabric. After that, now it’s time to dry your jeans with the help of heat.
Step 4: Use the dryer to dry jeans by setting the temperature on maximum. As jeans are mostly made of cotton and polyester, fabrics that can survive high temperatures. Keep jeans in the dryer until they get completely dry.
Step 5: After that, now it is time to try them out. If your jeans are not preshrunk, then your jeans will shrink from the sides and fits you perfectly.
This method is helpful, but it will work or not depends on the jeans. Moreover, this method can also make your jeans short or small length-wise. So, only do this method if you are sure that your jeans are loose from the waist, and side and not too short from the ankles.
5. Use a safety pin
Using a safety pin is another easy and best way to make your loose jeans fit jeans. If you are afraid of using any sewing method that involves tearing of waistband, then this is a pretty quick hack for you. The only thing that is required is attaching a book to jeans instead of a button, just like trousers.
Step1: Just put the safety pin through the fabric at the back of the jeans and pull it until the waist is snug.
Pull the pin closed so that it takes in the excess fabric. You may need to do this in more than one spot if the jeans are very loose.
6. Sewing the extra button inside the jeans
Another easy and best way to make your loose jeans sit perfectly on your waist is to sew an extra button inside the jeans on the waistband.
If you have any trousers or chinos, then you see a lot of them have extra buttons given Inside of the waistband. Well, that is what we have to do to make jeans stay up.
Step 1: First you need a button, polyester thread, and needle. Use a needle that can go through the jeans.
Step 2: Wear the jeans, by leaving them unbuttoned. Now use your both hands to measure how tight you want the waistband to be.
Step 3: Draw the line with chalk on the inner waistband under the button of your jeans, while holding the jeans to the position you want the button to be. You can take help from any other person to draw the line.
Step 4: sew the button on the inner side of your jeans.
Step 5: Now button your jeans on the inside button instead of the regular jeans button. Wear a belt to make it look more natural.
Related: How to Put Holes in Jeans
7. Hand stitching from the side
The other way to make your jeans waist smaller is to hand-stick them from the sides.
The reason why hand stitching is best for this method is that the waistband of jeans is too thick, and when you fold it inside, it becomes thicker, and this might make it difficult for the sewing machine to alter it perfectly.
You need a needle, scale, marker, and thread to make waist of jeans smaller by using this method.
Check out this video for full guide
8. Use a Rubber band
A rubber band is an easy and temporary solution to make your jeans waist small. All you need is a rubber band!
Step 1: Simply loop the rubber band around the button of your jeans and then thread it through the buttonhole. This will cinch the waist of your jeans and make them fit more snugly.
You can adjust the tightness of the rubber band to get the perfect fit.
Step 2: If you don’t have a rubber band handy, you can also use a hair tie or even a piece of string. Just be sure to knot it securely so that it doesn’t come undone during wear.
9. Use a Binder clip
If your pants are too big at the waist, a binder clip can be a quick and easy fix.
Step 1: Just clip the binder clip to the top of your pants and cinch it tight. This will take up some of the excess fabric and make your pants fit better.
Step 2: You can also use a binder clip to make a makeshift belt. Just thread the clip through your belt loops and adjust as needed.
10. Boiling method
Boiling is similar to washing jeans in hot water. However, this method is more effective and can do the process faster.
Just like washing jeans in hot water, this method is also going to shrink down your jeans.
So, if your jeans are already shrunk, then avoid this method. But if you want to use this method then, this can help your shrink your jeans about 2 to 3 inches.
Step 1: Turn the jeans inside out and put them in a hot water, making the water very hot. Keep jeans in water for 20 minutes minimum. You can increase the time if you want your jeans to shrink down more.
Step2: Next, put your jeans in the dryer at maximum temperature.
11. Turn the waistband
This is another temporary method of making your jeans wait tight without sewing them. Though this method can work, but only useful if you don’t have any other option.
Avoid using this method if you have time and you are not lazy to follow other methods to make the waist of your jeans smaller.
Step 1: Wear the jeans and button them down.
Step 2: Now fold the waistband inside, or outside whichever suits you best.
Folding the waistband in an outward direction makes it look odd. On contrary, if you fold it inwards the button might pinch you.
12. Use a belt
Another way of making your jeans tighter from the waist without using a sewing machine is by using a belt loop. Again just like turning the waistband inwards, this method is also a temporary method but more efficient and effective.
I myself used this method twice to hang straight high-rise jeans. Most women use this method in day-to-day life.
Step 1: Wear your jeans, but don’t button them. Instead, use a belt as a button.
Step 2: Tighten the belt as much as you want it to be and cover the button with the belt. Now, pin the belt in a loophole that is close to the button.
If you are wearing mom jeans with a high rise, then wear any top and tuck it in if you are using a belt. Or you can wear a long shirt or sweater to hide the Waistbelt.
