How to add extra length to a pair of jeans

 

My sister has very long legs and never seems to find well fitting jeans or trousers.

So when she got two pairs of jeans passed on to her, she asked me if I could help.

Of course I could, it even sounds like a lot of fun to me. 

I'll show you how to add length to jeans or trousers here. 

The first pair I added a extra piece of fabric into the leg. 

First I ironed the jeans as it is important that it's a clean cut. Then measured where to cut and how much. Marking it with a dissolveing fabric marker. 

Carefully cut off the bottom of the jeans 

Find some fabric similar to the jeans 

I have used fabric from another pair of jeans that were donated to me. 

If you have some that fit perfectly just cut out the entire piece. Mine didn't so I made 4 pices an sewed to and two together. 

Open up the side seams of the jeans you are adding length to. 

This will make it easier to add the extra fabric. You don't need to open it up all the way, just a little bit, both at the bottom and the top of where you cut the jeans 

Sew the new pieces to the jeans 

Trim off excess fabric so it will fit the legs 

Sew the cut off bottom of the leg to your added piece of fabric 

If you only want a piece of fabric, you can close the side seams and you are done. 

This works well for sweat pants and children's trousers. 

But I don't think it's particularly good for women who don't get long enough jeans. 

You want something that looks good right. 

So my plan was to hide it under some ribbons. 

Making some really fancy jeans for my little sister 

I tried different ribbons and lace until I found something I was satisfied with 

Pinning the first one in place, the rest I just put next to the other. 

Make sure you get the ribbon at the exact same place on the other leg and repeat the process 

When the ribbons are all in place, close the side seams and you are done 

Close up of the finished leg 

I think this one turned out pretty well 

My sister was very happy with them and think this definitely will be next years fashion 🤔 

Jeans are now about 7 cm longer 

And fitted my sister perfectly. 

Check out part 2 for how I altered the second pair 

Too small jeans or trousers

It's so annoying to take out your favorite pair of jeans and discover they have been shrinking in the wardrobe 

Don't worry it can be solved. By adding a little bit of fabric in both sides. 

I'll show you how. 

Start by cutting the side seams open as fare as you need to make your jeans fit. 

Try to avoid pesky nails if you can't you need to take them out using pliers. 

I cut to the front pocket. Unpick a little bit of the lining and the side seam. The one you just cut open. 

Find the fabric you want to use. It's better to use something similar to the one in your trousers. I had some denim in my stash in quite similar colours so I went for it. 

Put your opend seam on top of the fabric to measure the kind of piece you need. 

Use a fabric marker or chak to mark the area 

Cut out your pieces you will need two one for each side of your jeans. 

REMEMBER TO CUT WITH SEEM ALLOWANCE. And access to fold back down at the lining. 

Pin your triangles in place where you cut your seam and sew it in place. 

Remember to sew over the original seam as you don't want it to rip. And to fold out the lining so you can sew all the way to the back side of the lining as well. 

It can be a little bit tricky to sew the triangle by machine, but I prefer to use my machine. You can of course use hand stitching if you like to or don't have a sewing machine. 

Now your pices should look like this.

Repeat on the other side. 

Then top stitch the lining and your triangles and make sure you get all the way to the original seams. 

And you should be able to wear your favorite pair of jeans again. 

 

Mine had a couple of extra needs. 

I discovered holes next to the back pockets. I fixed it using a under patch and just darning it with the machine 

Hope you enjoy wearing your favorite pair of jeans again. 

Make your own fabric covered buttons

 Fabric covered buttons are easy to make from scratch.

Materials needed

Fabric [some scrap fabric will work fine] 

Scissors

Sewing thread

Embroidery thread [for the shank]

Batting or stuffing

Piece of plastic container like an ice cream box

Pen 

Beads and various embroidery thread if you want to make it even more special.

When you have gathered your supplies

Start with drawing circles on your plastic container as big as you want the button and cut them out. 

Find the fabric you want to use and cut circles about 2cm larger than the plastic circles. Cut out a circle of batting fitting the plastic circle or use stuffing. If you want to embroidery some thing or add beads now is the best time. I added running stitch using embroidery thread on two buttons and two with colorful fabric. 

Sew running stitch around the edge of the fabric circle. 

Place the batting in the middle of the fabric circle then the plastic circle on top 

Put the batting and the plastic circle into the fabric circle and pull the thread knot or other wise secure ends. 

Now your button should look like this on the front side. 

Cut another fabric circle for the back 

Fold in edges and sew it to cover the back of the button using ladder stitch or wip stitch 

Then it's time to make a shank 

Make a few loops using embroidery thread 

Blanket stitch all around the loop 

Now your button is ready to be used 

Easy Peasy right 👍

Replace jeans button

 It's really frustrating when the button of your jeans fall off. Often the leaves a hole too as they usually are studd buttons.

If you have a pice of denim and a coin or a regular button you can easily fix it. 

Of course you will need a needle and a sewing thread as well 😉

Sew running stitches around the pice of fabric just like the button in the previous posts 

Pull the thread with the coin inside the fabric. My fabric was a bit to small, but I was to lazy to get a bigger one. 

Pull the fabric through the hole, you might need to make it a bit bigger. 

Sew the fabric to the back of the hole 

If you have cut a bigger circle like I should have done you will get a better result on the back. You can always put a patch over it if you aren't happy with how it looks on the back. 

Looks perfect on the front 

The jeans are now back in circulation 👖