Self Tailoring 101

via Pinterest

Raise your hand if you have one or several items in your closet that need to be tailored!


I am raising both of mine.

Tailoring, although necessary, can sometimes get a bit pricey. For minor tweaks to your clothing, don’t be afraid to take matters into your own hands. With a few simple maneuvers, you can change the fit and appearance of your garments in less than 3 minutes!

Here are a few of my favorite “at home” tailoring tricks:

Pocket Purge

Pockets are great…if you are a 5 year old boy. Although a cute detail on jeans, the excess fabric of frontal pockets can lead to bumps and lumps on the tops of the thighs…not cool! To smooth the legline on jeans or even dress slacks, lose the pockets.

With a pair of sharp fabric scissors (or even sharp garden shears- for real!), trim ¾ of the lower fabric from the pocket. Turn the pants right side in and voila! A smoother leg line with no weird bulges on the upper thigh.

Trim Your Trousers

For those of us that are in between pant lengths, it can be extremely frustrating to have to walk around with pant legs dragging the ground. For a 2 second fix, channel your inner child of the 80’s and tight roll your pants.

Starting at the bottom of the pant leg, roll pants about 2 inches upward, until they hit right above the ankle bone. It’s a chic length that looks good with heels or flats.


Shorten Straps

Nothing is more annoying that fighting with a droopy strap on your favorite cami or tank all night. At-home solution? Create a racerback.

Pull the twist tie off of a loaf of bread or bag of veggies. In the back of the shirt, pull the two straps together so that they meet in the middle. Use the twist tie to “fuse” the two straps together to create a racerback. Finally, to hide the twist tie, find a cute flower pin, brooch OR (like in the photo below) a cute ribbon and fasten it around the portion of the racerback that is joined with the twist tie.

It will fix droopy straps and add an element of visual interest to the back of your top or dress!

Style Hint: To accentuate the bust, move the twist tie up higher toward the neck. To accentuate the waist, move the twist tie down toward the middle of your back.


Make a Dress…No, Really!

Need a spring dress in a pinch? No problemo.

I have not ever actually tried this myself, but will be doing so this weekend. Check out this short tutorial on how to make a super fab dress out of a big ole T-shirt. No kiddin.

What tips and tricks to you use to make your clothes fit better?

Be blessed, lovelies-