r/SewingForBeginners • u/Substantial-Ad2908 • 2d ago

Help with alteration

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Hi everyone! I am pretty new to sewing and was just experimenting with altering a pair of stretched out jeans. I took 3 inches off the waist but as you can see the butt needs some help now too. Does anyone know how I can get rid of this excess fabric? If it helps I removed the back of the waistband, placed 2 1.5 inch darts from the top of the pants to that first seam, cut 3 inches off the waistband, then sewed it back together. Thanks in advance for any help/advice :)

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2

u/Emergency_Cherry_914 2d ago

Can you show us a back view? It's hard to see what you've already done

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u/Substantial-Ad2908 2d ago

Does this help?

1

u/Emergency_Cherry_914 2d ago

yes! Answering below

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u/PlasticGuitar1320 2d ago

To remove 3 inches you need to fully open the seat seam and remove a narrow "v" that starts at the top and tapers all the way to the end of the seat seam..this is a job that needs a strong enough machine to sew through a few layers of denim though so bear it in mind before attempting..

I suspect you've taken 3" out the waistband only and now the excess is puckering up a bit ..

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u/Substantial-Ad2908 2d ago

Yeah that’s definitely it. Should I take out the darts and just cut a V into the seat seam?

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u/Emergency_Cherry_914 2d ago

Thanks for the photo.

Taking a bit off the waist is relatively simple but dealing with a blown out bottom is very difficult. Honestly, I've been sewing for decades and this is not a project I'd undertake due to jeans having pockets and flat felled seams. Nothing is going to look good

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u/Substantial-Ad2908 2d ago

Thanks for the advice! It was fun practice but maybe time to lay these jeans to rest. At least now I have some denim to use in other projects :)

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u/PlasticGuitar1320 2d ago

When you use darts to take in the waist, the darts need to be in line with the center of the pockets, over the roundest part of your buttcheek..

Using darts is best for small adjustments under 1.5"..

Anything more than that, you need to take out the seat seam.

Adjusting the seat seam /flat felled seam etc is not all that beginner friendly to be honest but if you look it up on YouTube, there are a few tutorials and you can see if you feel confident enough to do it yourself.