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When you’ve gone out and spent your hard earned money on a new outfit, you shouldn’t have to pay someone to make clothing alterations to get that perfect fit — you can easily do it yourself! With a few basic tips and tricks, a few sewing essentials, you can learn how to alter clothes so that they fit you perfectly. You’ll no longer have to spend time and money finding someone to alter your new jacket or skirt.
We were joined in the studio by the talented Mary Beth Temple recently, and she spent the day teaching us how to easily make clothing alterations. Mary Beth is well-known for her crochet tutorials and arm knitting tutorials, but what most people don’t know is that she used to work in the entertainment industry and did alterations of clothing/costumes for plays on Broadway and television.
For this video tutorial series, Mary Beth showed us how to alter a skirt and jacket. She spent some time explaining how to find a good piece of clothing to start with, and then what to look for to ensure a great fit when we are finished. We learned that we must consider not only the basic construction of the garment, but also the material used. Some of the fun clothing alterations Mary Beth taught us were: hemming and altering sleeves, tips for pinning while altering, how to hem a skirt, and more! With just a few simple lessons we were able to take a blazer and skirt that didn’t fit perfectly and create a tailored outfit that fit perfectly.
You’ll be able to see all the lessons, tips and tricks in our Clothing Alterations Playlist on the AllFreeSewing YouTube channel. Be sure to leave any questions or comments you might have, we’d love to see them.
Skirt Alterations:
Jacket Alterations:
And now for the DAILY GIVEAWAY! Today’s prize is fun gift pack courtesy of Fairfield.
To enter the daily giveaway, leave a comment below telling us:
What piece of clothing do you want to learn how to tailor?
Official Rules for Daily Contest
- There is a maximum of one entry per person. The entry will be based upon a comment left on this blog post. Duplicate comments will be deleted and are not tallied.
- Winner will be selected at random from the comments on this blog post below.
- You have until tonight, September 29th, 2015 at 11:59p EST to leave your comment on this post. Comments posted after that will not be counted.
- Contest open to anyone 18+ in US and/or Canada.
Enter daily for your chance to win the National Sewing Month 2015 Grand Prize Giveaway.
AllFreeSewing
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I have problems with pants, I have to get them too big in the waist to fit m in the thigh and length. I’m plus size and have long legs.
Pants
I would love to learn how to alter pants!!
alter pants so that the crotch area doesn’t hang
I have some pants that I would like to learn to alter. thanks for the great giveaway.
Dress slacks. Oh, what a pain to shop for! I am tall and have wider hips, but a narrow waist. Looking good in a professional atmosphere is important and I’d like to learn how to alter dress slacks.
I would like to earn how to alter jeans.
Nice series! I’ve not watched all the videos at the time I’m posting but I’ve enjoyed what I’ve seen so far. I was disappointed when the scheduled day the How To Alter Clothes “video” and article was supposed to have been posted. I was not expecting much from 1 video, but you guys posted a whole series of them, and they’re good. Really worth the wait. Thank you, and Thank you to Mary Beth Temple for making them too.
(I love love love the calendar too for national sewing month. Knowing what I missed and what’s coming up is really nice, although it caused me to comment about changed plans a couple times lol.)
As for what I want to tailor… I need to alter a leather trench coat. I’m still not confident enough to attempt the leather though. Need to try some of these techniques.
I’d like to learn how to tailor ball gowns. I have several that need to be taken in and tailored a bit, but I’m afraid I’ll ruin the dress to the point it won’t be wearable.
Knit tops and hems…
I want to tailor my slacks.
For me it’s trousers. They never fit well from the store and my own fiddling around with the fit has generally got me no where. I need a custom pants sloper I think!
Slacks. I don’t fit standard sizes and am not usually happy with my attempts to alter patterns.
Definitely pants.
My pants are always too long and too long in the crotch.
I would like to learn to tailor shirts. Have a wonderful day!
I would like to learn how to take in shirts..knits & tee’s…also dresses (shoulders & sides)
I would like to learn how to alter shoulder seams on blouses that are too big. I sometimes see beautiful tops at consignment stores, but the size just isn’t right. It would be nice to alter the shoulder, sleeve and the width of the blouse to make it work for me.
Pants
I just found this blog and am SO excited! Almost everything I buy needs altering, so the first thing I want to learn to alter is a RTW T-shirt! Can’t wait to get started.
I’d love to learn how to tailor a pair of dress pants.
This may sound silly, but I would love to learn how to alter a bra. I have a very hard time finding one that fits properly. ThanksQ
Craftsy has a good class on making your own bras that I’ve read rave reviews about. Something to look into anyway, since it’s a moderately expensive class. I’ve never thought you could alter them. You got me wondering about it now!
At the moment nothing. I am loosing weight and want to wait until I get to goal.
I would love to learn how to alter blouses. It so frustrating to buy a blouse that fits everywhere except the bust. I usually buy the next size larger just so the bust fits. I’d rather learn how to tailor a blouse instead of needing to paying for it like I do now.
I have a coat that is too long in the sleeves.
Pants. The crotch area hangs down too far. Petite pants fit the way I like, but then are too short.
I would like to sharpen my skill sat altering blouses and dress tops. Hip to waist ratios and bust sizes make it difficult when I’m out trying to buy the perfect blouse or dress.
I would like to learn to tailor a fitted jacket. After 40 years of sewing I still lack confidence where constructing a jacket is concerned.
I need to alter pants.
Pants and jeans. My hips are big in proportion to my waist so it is very hard to find pants that fit correctly.
I’m short, even petite lengths are long on me. I need hemming instructions on everything,
especially pants.
I’m 4’10” and a plus size 22 or 24, so getting blazers to fit me properly is a major problem. The shoulders, length of sleeves and often the total length are all problem aeas for me.
Pants and jeans to avoid a gap in the back.
Jacket!
Like the majority, I would like to learn to alter pants. I’ve had some that fit beautifully, but no longer do because I changed size or shape. I’m more interested in altering the fit of pants pattern than purchased pants.
Pants and jackets.I’m too short for my size, it would be wonderful to fit my clothes. Thanks
I’m 5’1″ so I already know how to shorten pants and skirts.
What I’d really to like to learn is how to alter jackets-I have wide shoulders but small everything else.
I WOULD LIKE TO ALTER MY PANTS NEALTY.
I want to learn how to alter the width and/or length on jeans on the legs. I had some pairs where if they weren’t so long in the legs on jeans it would be a perfect fit.
I want, need to learn to alter jeans. I’m 61 and they don’t fit my body like they used to.☺
I would like to do alterations on slacks that are not fitting correctly in the crotch area.
A dress.
I would like to learn to alter pants jackets.
pants!
Since I am on the short side, I really want to learn more about hemming pants.
I am interested in dresses. The back always puckers. help
I am studying up on sewing pants so they fit.
How to alter jeans that are to big. Thanks.
I would like to learn tailoring techniques for a wool blazer
I would like to alter dress shirts, more in the upper area, jeans and dress pants.