My first real alteration

Sherril graciously volunteered to help me with the fit of my Burda top. In the meantime, I decided to start on a project I've been putting off for a while.
As you may know, I've been exercising and watching what I eat for a number of months now. This has resulted in some weight loss. It has also meant that my work pants now sit lower on my waist/hip area.

Since I wasn't sure if the alterations should be made at the side seams, back seam, or if I needed to increase dart sizes, I began to search for information online. I didn't find what I was looking for, but I did find many references to the book pictured here.

I decided that the alteration on page 51 - "Removing the Waistband and Taking in the Sides" - most suited what I was looking for. I did have to add an extra step, since my waistand has a back center seam. This ended up making the alteration easier in the long run because I did not have to move the closures in the front.

The steps for me were:
1. Remove the waistband from the pants, keeping the seams intact at both front closure ends.
2. Resew the side seams at the desired with, tapering to the existing side seam at hip-level.
3. Remove the same width from the waistband's center back seam.
4. Pin waistband back on and try the pants on.
5. If satisfied, cut off excess fabric and refinish seams.
6. Reconnect the waistband to the pants.

Y la voila! Pants that fit better than ever. I really like the resulting fit. The pants are closer to my waist and very comfortable.

I took some (pretty lousy -I miss my old camera!) pictures to illustrate the difference between my other pair of unaltered pants, and my newly altered pants. Here they are. First the unaltered, then the altered. I'm very happy with the results!




















Front view

and Side View