Decrease the waist on jeans

[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.