How to Tailor Your Own Clothes
You and you alone know how you want your clothes to fit. While there are professionals out there who will do the job for you, sometimes they will not or cannot make your clothes fit you exactly the way you want them to.A little sewing knowledge (basically, how to thread a needle and/or run a sewing machine) and a little time are all you need to tailor your own clothes.
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Things You'll Need
- Measuring tape
- Needles
- Thread in different colors for hand-sewing
- Sewing machine for tailoring larger areas
Instructions
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Take off anything you will not be wearing under the garment(s) you are tailoring.
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Put on any undergarments, blouses or other articles of clothing that you will be wearing with the outfit or garment you are tailoring.
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Measure the hem length of pants, dresses or skirts by turning the bottom of the garment either up or under the desired number of inches and marking the place.
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Or, use a previously hemmed garment if it is the exact length you want the garment you will be tailoring to be. Simply match the waistband or top of the two garments exactly and evenly, then mark where the hem of the already tailored garment lies on the other garment.
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Use pins or other marking methods to show where else besides the hem the garment needs tailoring. Mark garments that need to be made smaller so you can tell how much material needs to be removed or stitched up. Mark garments that need to be made larger so where you can tell where to re-sew the garment after the original stitches have been removed.
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Use a needle and thread that matches the garment to hand-sew hems or perform small tailoring tasks. Use the sewing machine to perform larger tailoring tasks.
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Tips & Warnings
Ask someone to help you pin or otherwise mark the garment(s), especially if you will have to stoop, bend or otherwise contort yourself to do so. Tell the person who is helping you when the garment is as tight or as loose as you want it.
Don't let your hands, feet, hair or loose clothing (except for what is being sewed, of course) get near the moving parts of the sewing machine. Injury can result if something other than clothing is caught in sewing-machine parts.
Resources
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Comments
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I've just read a primer on the basics of tailoring.
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IAN! as much as i would like to say this is annoying, it was actually quite hilarious.
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I did that, and I like it.
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my name's sara, I do stuff, bleh bleh bleh!
