Pleating & Skinnifying Pants

First off, by skinnifying I mean making pants tighter at the ankle into more of a skinny leg fit. Now that that's settled I'll start the tutorial! You know those pants that would be absolutely adorable, but they are extremely baggy at the legs? Pleating is such a great way to fix that in a really cute, simple way. The pants I'm using in this tutorial are not a jean material, they're a soft cotton.

You will need:

coordinating thread

Pleating

Step 1: Find the middle of your pants and make a mark (unless you want your pleat to be off center) and stick a pin in. Be sure that your pin only goes through the front side. (I reallllllyyy need to figure this rotater thing out... Sorry again.)

Step 2: Measure 1/4" from your first pin. You can measure in either direction just make sure that it is in the same direction for both legs, then pin. From these pins place two more, inches below.

Step 3: From the waistband again, measure the length you'd like your pleats to be and place a pin horizontally. This will be your stopping point when you decide to sew.

Step 4: From one of the pins fold over so that it lines up with the second pin. Do this all the way down the pant until you reach the horizontal pin. Pin the fold in place.

Step 5: Sew along the pins. Start from the waistband, just not on the waistband. Then sew all the way to the horizontal pin. (My pin representing the stopping point is the pink one.)

And there we have it, a professional pleat! 

Skinnifying

Step 1: Flip pants right side out. Place a pair of skinny jeans that you like the fit of and place them on top of your unskinnified jeans. Place pins on the outside of your skinny jeans along the inseam of the unskinnified jeans. 

Step 2: Being really super duper careful try on your jeans inside out, leaving the pins in. (Yes, inside out WITH the pins in. Scary, yes. But that's why I said be careful!) If you like the way they fit sew along the pins. Be sure to double stitch at the bottom of the pant.

Step 3: Try them on right side out. if you're happy with the fit turn them back out and cut a centimeter or so away from your seam. 

                            

not skinnified                                  skinnified

Step 4: Repeat on the other pant leg. Then you have a once ill fitting pant transformed into a healthy fitting pant. (Cheesy joke, I know.)

before tailoring

after tailoring