During quarantine, I started to try to step up my fashion game. I was ordering clothes online and trying to upcycle old clothes from back home, but I soon faced one of the most common fashion problems: my pants fit everything – except my waist. No matter how well my jeans fit my hips, I was left with a huge space on the back.

As someone whose weight is constantly fluctuating, having a tailor take in the waist of my jeans permanently would end up being a waste of money. If you struggle with the same problem, I highly recommend this simple DIY method of taking in the waist of your jeans. Obviously, a tailor could do a better job. But if you want a cheap alternative that you can do at home, this could be the perfect solution.

I also want to put a disclaimer: I am not a crafty person. This is just what worked for me, and hopefully will work for you, too. This also means that, if you are like me, you might feel overwhelmed or even accidentally cut yourself at some point. But I promise that if I can do this, so can you!

What You’ll Need:

Elastics

Scissors

Safety Pins

Your jeans/pants

 1. Lay out your jeans and find the waistband. It’s this part right here!

2. With a pair of scissors, a safety pin, or a sharp object, make cuts into the inside of both sides of your waistband.

3. Pin the elastic with the safety pin. I recommend putting some tape all over the end of the safety pin, so that it doesn’t come undone while you are putting it through the waistband.

4. Put the elastic through the waistband, using the safety pin to pull it through the waistband.

5. Remove the tape from the safety pin. Then, cut the elastic and add a safety pin to that side as well.

6. Here comes the fun part! Put your jeans/pants on, then pull the elastic until it fits however you want.

7. Take each side of the elastic and pin to the opposite side of the waistband. At this point, you can sew a button to where you would want the elastic to attach to and make a cut in the elastic to put the button through. I personally didn’t do this because I have zero sewing experience, but I recommend it.

8. You did it! Now go show off your proud work!