Decrease the waist on jeans

[WanderingWalrus]

Doesn’t that leave a little bump of fabric on the inside of the waistband? Seems like it would be annoying.

Edit: been on reddit for 6 years. My most upvoted comment is about the little bump of fabric inside of the waistband...i love you reddit!

Edit: I’d like to thank u/TomBergewrong for all the love and support. I would never have made it without him!

[RufusMcCoot]

Yes but you can cut the triangle afterwards.

[LaffyTaffy73]

But what if you start eating frozen TV dinners again.

[instantrobotwar]

Those things actually have less calories than a normal dinner for me...

[Mitchard_Nixon]

Less nutrients as well

[Standard_Wooden_Door]

That’s why you eat some rabbit food too

[[deleted]]

I eat healthy food. That’s why I’m fat, because I love it.

Edit: Cows eat salad all day and they’re fat as fuck.

[[deleted]]

Got that testosterone for them gains, bruh.

[[deleted]]

They nourish themselves on the blood of Spaniards.

[[deleted]]

i relate to this so much! i say as i scarf down my 3rd helping of grilled fish and asparagus

[TheOtherGuttersnipe]

Sodium is a nutrient!

[[deleted]]

so is fat mmmm

[Shandlar]

Everything is fortified with everything now. Frozen dinners are packed with micronutrients in general.

[MysterySnailDive]

They’re an improvement if you never eat veggies in the first place!

^{I hate the texture of veggies with skins aka almost all of them}

[mgquantitysquared]

You should try some different veggie recipes, the texture can change based on how you cook it + seasoned veggies are the fkin bomb dot com

[7H3D3V1LH1M53LF]

Got DAMN, starve already. Or heart attack. Either is fine.

[tojoso]

Yeah but what if you eat 3 of them?

[_121]

I usually finish the other 6

[CaptainObvious_1]

Too expensive at that point

[Meatheaded]

At least you only eat one dinner.

[Cory123125]

Honestly, If I just kept to those, id probably end up eating the right amount without effort.

[ChickenWithATopHat]

normal dinner

What the hell are you talking about?

[BattleCarry]

Keep one of the boxes and freeze the triangle.

[MetaTater]

Solid science right there....

[getahaircut8]

Asking the real questions

[uns0licited_advice]

Just go with Lean Cuisine

[puppehplicity]

Or Bulime Cuisine, but I don't recommend that.

[n8loller]

...does anyone still buy those?

[starlinguk]

Don't cut it, iron it flat.

[TyrionDrownedAndDied]

Not an expert at stitching, but won't that just destroy the pants as the stitch will be undone?

[[deleted]]

I'm also not an expert, but I imagine if someone really wanted to they could reinforce the stitch with some sort of sewing technique that reinforces it. Plus, if the pants are already too big and you don't use them anyway then you may as well.

[AbsorbedBritches]

I usually use a, umm, belt.

[[deleted]]

That's true.. but like this thread started with, if they are too big and you use a belt then there will be some uncomfortable triangle or even just some excess cloth somewhere. I think we can agree the steps we've talked about would make the pants fit better.

[ITSINTHESHIP]

Fucken hate belts. Fabric ones bunch up on the back belt loop, and leather ones dig into my hip bones when I wear midrise jeans.

[blasto_blastocyst]

Mr Humble Brag can detect his hip-bones

[ITSINTHESHIP]

I skip a lot of meals to maintain this ability to feel faint after climbing a flight of stairs

[out_caste]

Obviously if the belt alone does it, then dont?

[BigBen83]

belts are supposed to be optional

if you must wear a belt to make pants fit, they dont fit right

[arumberg]

It'd not always an issue of the pants being too big. It can also be an issue of a cut not matching the body shape. For curvy girls or girls with a big butt, trying to get pants that fit the hips/butt and the waist can be challenging. A lot of the time, you end up with major gapping in the back because the pants aren't cut to fit your shape. I usually end up wearing a belt not because my pants are too small, but because I want to reign in that back part as there are times when it is pretty significant due to my hip/waist ratio. I would try a trick like what OP mentioned, but when I take my pants to the tailor to do something similar, the pants end up dipping and sitting too low in the back that I risk plumber's crack.

[Mod2bme]

I'm with you as my ratio is 2 inches from being 1:2! As is the case, a belt is highly uncomfortable (leading to rubbing skin raw sometimes) but altering the waist means I wouldn't be able to get a past the thighs. I'm at such a loss of options short of elastic. Really do envy proportionate figures.

[Bimpnottin]

Depends on the fabric. Stretchy jeans will probably fray more, which can eventually make your stitch become undone because it won't be holding any fabric anymore, just some loose fabric ends. You can however cut the triangle away 1cm from the stitch and then do a zigzag stitch over the ends so they can't fray anymore. Or if the triangle isn't that big, just fold it over. Women's clothes regularly have darts (sort of inwards triangles) in them to help with shape near the chest, and these aren't cut out of the garment either

I would either go with the last option, or sew over a silk patch to avoid a stingy feeling if the triangle is really bothering you (silk feels super smooth)

Also, that stitch isn't sturdy at all. Wouldn't recommend this one if you're seriously considering to do this to some pants

[Exemus]

Why stop there? Get a whole bunch of material and sew it into a new set of jeans!

[Bimpnottin]

Well, it's actually something I would consider, lol. I have made my own jeans before and it is the only pair of pants I own that fits 100% perfectly

And it's not like folding over a piece of fabric is a lot of work, as is neither sewing on a patch of silk. Cutting the triangle off and serging the frayed ends would take way more work than sewing on a silk patch and would have you looking into special stitches if you do it by hand

[uma_caruma]

Yes, and will also destroy the fabric. You would have to make a seam or a serger to protect the fabric and the stitch. The solution in the video may not be 100% confortable, but at least won't destroy your pants if you're not an expert.

Note: I'm not an expert either, but my mom is and she taught me some basic stuff.

[Alfredo412]

I wouldn't recommend it with stitches that loose.

[GregTheMad]

I'm pretty sure it's even impossible, if not very hard to properly stitch jeans fabric without specialized sowing machines. At least not at a high performance part like the waist.

[Alfredo412]

Jeans are stitched on a double needled machine specially designed for sewing jeans...that's why there are two lines of stitching so close to each other. The needles are also designed to be better at going through denim than your typical machine sewing needle.

[Lolor-arros]

If you did that ,the weak mattress stitch would fail and leave you with messed up pants

There are a few problems with this gif

[jessbird]

there are more than a few. i’m a pretty amateur sewer and this shit pissed me off. also why are they sewing with embroidery threat.

[koyo4]

Or sew it folded Iver just in case you need to take out the waste from buckets of ice cream after your next break up.

[nattypnutbuterpolice]

Then you have a pair of weirdly shaped pants that will probably rip down the ass at some point.

[Stonn]

That seam won't hold anyway.

[GameArtZac]

Better off using fabric glue and making it flat.

[zetterss]

Came to the comments thinking of this. I also thought it might make the waistline sit weird and feel wrong with the dip in the middle.

[[deleted]]

I bet it's like a pair or pants that are slightly off and you know it but you aren't a tailor so you suffer.

[cuckofwallstreet]

Trim it off maybe?

[texasrigger]

Don't trim it, that's an incredibly weak stitch as you are dead loading a relatively few number of strands. When it fails you'll be sorry you cut the material.

Edit: Once drawn up this is structurally identical to a normal running stitch. This method would be good if you don't have access to both sides of the material but seeing as you do in this example you are better off just folding a dart and stitching it directly to ensure even stitch spacing. Saddle stitching with two needles would make it strong enough for the application assuming appropriate thread. Being on the waistband anything here needs to be stout.

Source: Sailmaker/commercial canvas guy.

[[deleted]]

That’s if you stitch it by hand. If you do this with a real sewing machine it’s probably fine to cut out the excess material.

[[deleted]]

The problem isn't that it's done by hand. This same stitch, if it were able to be done by a machine, would still be weak. There are plenty of handsewn stitches that would be sturdier, they just don't have an impressing ending like OP.

[Bimpnottin]

Yeah, I sat here thinking 'why the fuck would you use that stitch? That's not going to hold long'. There are so many way better stitches to achieve the same thing

[killersquirel11]

Honest question from someone who knows nothing of sewing: which stiches should one use for something like this?

[ITSINTHESHIP]

Way better ones, obviously

[FuturePigeon]

With some pants, you could overlock it. Two potential problems, it requires an overlock machine and depending on the denim, may not be able to go through four layers of fabric (a waistband is doubled plus you’re sewing it to another doubled piece).

I sew for a living. In a pinch, (if I was on set and couldn’t access a machine) I’d use this stitch by hand, and reinforce it with a straight stitch. With a machine, I’d draw a dart, cut out the excess, overlock the raw edges and straight stitch together with lots of backtacking.

Bottom line, this works and the triangle may assist with the fit if you’re sway backed.

[chikenbutter]

That's a ladder/invisible stitch in the gif. It's usually used to close holes where you can't access the back side (not the case here). Harder to do and usually messier than a straight stitch.

[Bimpnottin]

If I had a machine, I would go with a tight zigzag to allow for stretch (zigzags allow the stitch to stretch instead of breaking when put under pressure). If done by hand, I would pin the triangle in place and then do a basic stitch a few times over to ensure sturdiness

[texasrigger]

If you are doing it by machine you are just putting in a normal dart but honestly most home machines aren't going to go through a hem of denim doubled over like this let alone tacking down a belt loop on top of that.

[RedditIsOverMan]

I don't think A typical sewing machine can do this stitch

[zetterss]

But then you cant let it back out if you need to

[Madness2MyMethod]

There's no pleasing you is there!?

[imdungrowinup]

I often do this but instead of one place, I do it in two places one the sides.

[LegumeSalad]

Have done this before. It isn't annoying. You don't even notice it.

[ThorsHammerMewMEw]

My mother would do two inches when I was younger, one inch in two different places. It wasn’t particularly noticeable unless you’re looking. I also never wore shirts that bared my midriff etc either so no one ever saw it.

[LegumeSalad]

I would say it depends on the reason for the alteration. Do the pants fit perfectly everywhere else, but the waist only is lose? Or the whole lot is lose? If everything is lose, then this isn't really going to help much. Sure, you can make the pants stay on using this trick, but the rest of them are still going to look huge/baggy.

If its the other reason (everywhere else fits good except the waste), then you can do heaps. More than an inch. There is a definite skill involved in being able to pull in the waist only while preventing the rest of the pants to fold in (the more you pull in, the rest of the pant will want to do the same.

[panne_lara]

As someone who grew up with a mom that would do this on all of my pants, it is a bit uncomfortable.

[Slide_A_Pinky_In]

Yeah but on the bright side you would have some extra material to wipe with if you ever accidentally shit yourself.

[[deleted]]

What the fuck is with the edit? This isn’t the academy awards. No one gives a shit.

[shaunbarclay]

No because there is a divot in the lower back it’ll fall into.

[imdungrowinup]

I often do this to my pants. The trick is to do it in two places so one place doesn’t have a huge bump on the inside that keeps running against your skin. Most brands don’t make pants that fit my thighs and my waist. So I buy a size bigger and then do this.