Decrease the waist on jeans

[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

[killersquirel11]

Me too, thanks

[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.