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They’re some of the most disheartening events: the day you outgrow your favorite pair of jeans or lose a little weight and try to pull on a cherished shirt…only to find your arms are drowning in fabric! You don’t want to throw these items out, but you’re also not comfortable in them anymore. The awesome news is, there are dozens of easy ways to alter your clothes so they make you feel wonderful again. Turn your skirts into dresses, your pants into skirts, and your sweaters into button-up cardigans! There are more tricks out there than you’ve ever imagined. Click on the links below for some seriously helpful tutorials and tips on easy alterations from AllFreeSewing. You and your closet will be friends again in no time.
If you love DIY style, consider learning how to make clothes from start to finish! Our collection of 500 DIY clothing ideas has a TON if handmade clothing ideas to try out.
Learn how to make adjustments to your favorite clothes in style with these tips! Above: Pants Turned Maxi Skirt.
Dragging sleeves are irritating! They get in the way while you’re trying to write, cook, type, and put on makeup. Use this easy tutorial to keep your shirt sleeves in ship shape. It might seem like an unimportant change to make, but shortening your sleeves can make a world of a difference.
Also, learn how to sew a button onto shirts or any other piece of clothing by following this tutorial on Hand Sewing Buttons.
How to Resize a Bra
I think I’ve needed two or three different bra sizes in my life thus far..and those babies are EXPENSIVE! Don’t waste money on new bras anymore. Alter the ones you already have and spend the extra cash on a new top you’ll look great in instead.
Easy Pencil Skirt Refashion
There is NOTHING more uncomfortable than an ill-fitting pencil skirt, but there is also nothing more empowering than strutting down the street in one that hugs your body just right. Do yourself a favor and take the time get yours fitting correctly. You will be thanking yourself for years.
How to Alter Pants
You gotta feel good in your pants. You just gotta. They’re with you almost every day. You’ve got to drive in them. You’ve got to go to work in them. Sometimes, you have the dance in them. Altering your pants so they fit you correctly is always worth your time.
How to Lengthen Kids’ Jeans
Don’t waste money buying brand new jeans for your kids every fall. They outgrow them faster than you can earn the money back! Add adorable fabric cuffs to the bottoms instead. They’ll look good, and your wallet will be singing your praises.
How to Sew Pockets into a Skirt
Having pockets to hold your phone and a little cash is THE BEST THING in the world, especially during the spring and summer when you don’t necessarily want to be bothered by lugging around a purse. Turn ALL of your skirts into your favorite skirt by adding cute little pockets to each and every one.
How to Expand a Top
Once you have a handful of shirts you can count on to be flattering and comfortable, it’s hard to give them up! Never say goodbye to that favorite top again. Use this tutorial and make sure your shirts not only fit, but make you feel happy and fabulous for years to come.
Skirt to Dress Refashion
You love the pattern on that skirt in your closet…but you’re not really a skirt person anymore. Maybe you were never really a skirt person. It’s ok! Own it! Give that beautiful fabric some new life by transforming that so-so skirt into a bada-bing dress you’ll feel incredible in.
10 Minute Sweater-to-Cardigan Transformation
Every fall, the itch to buy new sweaters sets in. The only problem is, they’re getting super expensive. I swear, nearly every sweater I fell in love with last autumn ended up being at least twenty dollars more than it would have been the previous year. They’re onto us people, but we can still outsmart them! Turn your oldest sweaters into cardigans and let them breathe new, cost-efficient life into your wardrobe.
Pants Turned Maxi Skirt
You’re tired of your old pants, and you love to twirl. Sounds like the perfect recipe for a refashioning! If you’ve got a pair of flowy, wide-legged pants you’re never going to wear again, you could be twirling in no time at all.
Thanks for reading! Comment below to tell us about the best transformations living in your closet.
AllFreeSewing
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This website is great. Learned so much. Thank you.
I have done lot of these for years. I have taken too small dresses apart to make me and my daughters new. In the 1970s I fixed my son’s jeans so he could wear them another few months or a year. The style was for the legs to have different color denim on the lower leg with fancy, seaming joining the two colors. I took his too short jeans that still had good fabric in the lower leg to above the knee and cut the leg off at shorts length, making that pair into shorts. Then I took jeans that were also too short and had hols in the knee and after measuring put the cut off legs on those jeans to make them longer. Sometimes I waited until fall to fix the jeans, kids grow too fast to fix more than a few jeans at once. The result was he had new shorts every summer and new jeans for school. Most people thought I had purchased him new expensive jeans and were very surprised that I had rescued too short jeans. The style of the day really helped me to stay in my very small. Clothing budget.
Later in my life after I lost about 50 pounds I altered my too large clothing so I would be able to wear them. Learned by doing. I had always repaired my clothing so it would last. My daughter loved other’s reactions when I told them my secret after asking if I had lost weight. I said that when a lady sews, she alters instead of buying new.
Hope you can also use these ideas, or even understand what I wrote.
great
Your information is great on all the sewing projects. I am wondering if you have a simple pattern to make a dickey to wear under a v neck sweater.
Unfortunately, Carolyn, we do not have a pattern for a Dickey on AllFreeSewing at this time. We do, however, have a pattern for a garment that can be used under a V-neck sweater. Here is the link: http://www.allfreesewing.com/Miscellaneous-Clothing/Cleavage-Cover
Thank you for the information you provide, it helped me a lot! it’s great that I knew this site! Can you sharing some updates on how you have made this powerful post!
The style was for the legs to have different color denim on the lower leg with fancy, seaming joining the two colors. I took his too short jeans that still had good fabric in the lower leg to above the knee and cut the leg off at shorts length, making that pair into shorts. Then I took jeans that were also too short and had hols in the knee and after measuring put the cut off legs on those jeans to make them longer. Sometimes I waited until fall to fix the jeans, kids grow too fast to fix more than a few jeans at once. The result was he had new shorts every summer and new jeans for school. Most people thought I had purchased him new expensive jeans and were very surprised that I had rescued too short jeans. The style of the day really helped me to stay in my very small. Clothing budget.http://www.buyinghousewall.com/
Later in my life after I lost about 50 pounds I altered my too large clothing so I would be able to wear them. Learned by doing. I had always repaired my clothing so it would last. My daughter loved other’s reactions when I told them my secret after asking if I had lost weight. I said that when a lady sews, she alters instead of buying new
thanks this article is so lovely
Thanks for the knowledge
Thanks for the post.Nice write up