How to widen a pencil skirt

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It often happens that your favorite clothes do not have time to serve their purpose. It’s especially frustrating in situations where things no longer fit. Not every fashionista agrees to put her clothes in the closet and wait until she loses weight. In addition, not everyone succeeds in losing weight quickly. But you don’t have to wait for this time - it’s enough to restore the thing before it goes out of fashion. In addition, often several items in a wardrobe are connected to each other, that is, if one fails, others instantly become unnecessary as well. Therefore, today we will tell you how to remake a skirt, if it is too small, in the most popular and simplest ways.

Preparing for work

Before you begin restoration, it is important to evaluate all the pros and cons. To do this, you first need to carefully examine the thing. The most common way to add inches to the width of a garment is to use seam allowances.

Important ! If the product will be placed along the side seams, compare their shade with the color of the main fabric. The color of the allowances must match the front side.

The seam allowance should be wide enough to accommodate the new side stitches.

It is also necessary to determine the degree of wear and type of product. There are fabrics that are very sensitive to sewing needles. They leave noticeable holes. Unfortunately, it is impossible to get rid of them, so it will not be possible to widen such a skirt while maintaining an attractive appearance.

The material of the skirt can be convex, voluminous, for example, corduroy, velor, ribbed. This should definitely be taken into account. Additional inserts should under no circumstances violate the integrity of the pattern .

If the condition of the item satisfies the above conditions, feel free to proceed with the alteration.

How to increase the size of a skirt on the hips with your own hands?

As we have already found out, there are several methods for increasing the size of a skirt, including a leather one. First we will look at the option of widening in the hip area.

To do this job, prepare the following tools:

• Small scissors, blade, steamer.
• Sewing machine.
• A needle.
• Thread.
• Tailor's centimeter.
• Iron.

It is necessary to carefully prepare for the expansion of the product, perform the following preparatory work:

1. Measure your skirt's hips and your hips. Determine the difference between these values, divide it by four.
2. The resulting figure is the very amount by which the skirt needs to be increased. The easiest way is to change each allowance by this number in centimeters.
3. Carefully inspect the allowances, because it is important that they have a sufficient supply of fabric. If there is not enough material, then it is better to forget about this idea.

Extend the product according to this scheme:

• Open the skirt at the seams. Use a steamer to iron all seams.
• Place the halves of the product together, pre-mark new seams, then baste them.

Important! If you have already sewn something before, you can immediately take up the basting thread. Only in this case it is better not to change the darts.

• Sew the seams, then press.
• If the skirt has hooks or buttons, be sure to sew them too.

Important! This method can also be used to shrink clothing.

Adding width to the hips

To add width at the hips, an insert along the entire length of the skirt is needed. In this case, use a detachable zipper sewn into the back.

• Take measurements of your waist and hips. Divide the difference in volumes by four. The resulting figure will be equal to the required allowance.
• Open the side seams . You will make your task easier if you use a special steamer.
• Strip the seams of old threads.
• Iron them using the steam setting. This will help get rid of machine stitch marks.
• Match the side seams . Use a bar of soap to mark the new measurements on the fabric.
• Sweep them with a simple stitch.
• Machine stitch the details.
• Press the new side stitches.

Don't touch the grooves, leave them the same. Open the belt along the longitudinal seam, cut off the button fastener. Baste the waistband again, taking into account the spaced side width. Sew on a machine.

Ways to widen a small skirt

At the moment, there are several ways to widen a tight skirt, which, for example, has “risen” at the waist; they are considered the most effective and simple. These include the following methods:

• The pencil model can be enlarged by inserting it into the upper part of the side seams and on the waistband. It is better to make inserts in the form of a trapezoidal or rounded entrance to the pocket. Wedges are inappropriate here.
• To increase the size of a pencil skirt at the waist and hips at the same time, you need to make inserts from the waistband along the entire length to the very bottom. You can also use a detachable zipper as an insert - it is simply sewn into the side or middle seam.
• To increase the product by a couple of sizes, it is enough to make an insert at the front from a different material, due to which the canvas itself will expand.
• A straight model can be converted into a wrap skirt; to do this, you need to insert an expanding part made of a different material.
• It's even easier to widen a flared skirt - just cut it off at the top. Only in this case it is necessary to take into account that the clothes will become much shorter.

We will talk later about which modification option is suitable for specific purposes, because first we need to consider no less important nuances.

The process of expanding a small skirt has certain conditions:

1. If there is no material left in the allowances, then the product will not be altered.
2. It is better to refuse expansion if the skirt is different in color from the allowances. This often happens when things fade in the sun or fade during washing.
3. It is better not to alter items made from thin fabrics, since holes from old seams are too visible on them.

Important! It is quite difficult to increase any clothing by more than one size, because not every item can withstand it.

Bottom extension

And if the skirt widens downward, for example, a flare? This can be expanded by cutting off the top, narrowest part.

Naturally, the skirt will lose a little length, but you will be able to wear it .

Pre-punch the zipper to avoid cutting it. And then save and transfer to the modified model.

Advice. If you need to remake a godet style made from wedge inserts, you can make the skirt wider by adding the same detail.

How to widen the bottom of a narrow skirt yourself?

This option is suitable not only for widening things from below, but also on the hips. This method of increasing the skirt is best used for models that consist of wedges.

You will need:

• Meter of fabric.
• Blade.
• Steamer.
• Scissors.
• Threads.
• Needles.
• Sewing machine.

Important! Material consumption directly depends on how much you want to expand the item. If you need to add just a couple of centimeters from the bottom, then the amount of fabric will be equal to the amount of expansion. Be mindful of seam allowances. You can choose any fabric by color. But for girls who want to look slimmer in the hips, it is better to give preference to dark fabrics, so that the color is several shades darker than the skirt itself.

You need to do the following to increase the size of the skirt at the bottom:

1. Determine the size of the future item, measure the volume of the product, decide how many centimeters are missing.
2. Cut triangles of the required size from the auxiliary fabric. Be sure to take seam allowances into account.
3. Spread the garment from the bottom to the very hips, smooth the seams with an iron.
4. Insert the resulting triangles into the resulting gaps. Then sew them together with a basting stitch.
5. Try on the skirt to see if this width is enough for you.
6. Sew all seams, then iron.

Important! You can also use satin ribbon for this method, for example, sew it on the sides in the form of stripes. Godet skirt models are expanded by inserting satin ribbon on the bias into all seams. To embroider a circle skirt, just cut a piece of fabric of the required length, then put it on top instead of a belt. Due to this, the main line will drop a little lower.

How to widen a skirt without sewing

Your skirt has elastic, but is it too tight? You can cope with this trouble in the following ways.

• Lay the skirt out on the ironing board. Stretch the elastic band. By the way, you can put it directly on the board itself.
• Iron the elastic using a steam iron. You can also do this with a damp cloth.
• Steam the elastic for a while; you can stretch it further with your free hand.

Alternatively, you can flog the tight part and wear the item without it.

How to stretch a small skirt?

In this section we will give several examples of how to stretch a skirt yourself, without the help of specialists and without using a sewing machine.

You can stretch the product as follows, based on the type of material:

1. Cotton clothes should be soaked in warm water with vinegar added. It is enough to leave it in it for half an hour, then lay it out on a terry towel on a horizontal surface, stretch it in different directions to the desired size. Then the clothes are laid out on a dry towel until completely dry.
2. The wool skirt should be placed in a bowl of warm water and a mild shampoo or special wool softener or conditioner should be added. Clothes after this treatment are stretched in small sections until they are completely expanded. Then dried at room temperature.
3. Woolen items can also be stretched using a special solution of water, vodka, turpentine, and ammonia. You need to pour five liters of water into a container, add three tablespoons of alcohol, a spoonful of vodka and turpentine. The skirt is then soaked in the solution for an hour, rinsed and stretched by hand.
4. The knitted item can be soaked in warm water and left for 20 minutes. Then load it into the washing machine and wash it on a no-spin cycle. Next, just stretch the skirt with your hands and let it dry. It is better to dry the product vertically so that it does not return to its previous state.
5. A pencil skirt made of leatherette and genuine leather can be stretched by steaming. You need to hang it over boiling water and leave it for a couple of hours. The main thing is to make sure that its edge is located directly above the water.
6. To stretch the length of the skirt, you should wash it, then thoroughly moisten it, hang it in a vertical position and attach a small weight to the bottom.
7. To increase the width of a denim skirt, just wet it and pull it on a wide metal hanger. As soon as the fabric is dry, you need to put the skirt on yourself and walk around in it a little.

How to make things bigger - widen your pants

If you need to stretch them a little, then use water. To do this, take a spray bottle and pour water into it. But first, put the film on the floor, then lay the jeans on top. Apply water here and start stretching your jeans.

If you need to enlarge your trousers even more, then pour water into the bath. Now try to put on jeans. This is easiest to do if you lie down and then button your pants. Now, in this form, lie down in a bath of water and stay there for 10 minutes. Now you need to stand up and try to squeeze out the water directly on yourself.

Step out of the bath onto a shot cloth that is non-slip. You can use a rubber mat. After this, you will need to do gymnastics. Do the exercises. Squats will especially help.

Do jeans stretch?

High-quality jeans can be stretched by 1-2 sizes. Jeans are sewn from denim .
This is a durable fabric, but has little elasticity. To make the material elastic, various synthetic threads are added to it. This material stretches, and after it has been washed, it narrows, so you can stretch it by about 1-2 sizes. You can stretch your jeans in the following ways:

• Soak in water, twist and then stretch by hand
• Stretch wet jeans with a special expander
• Spray with water and iron with a hot iron

Jeans stretch well in width, but in length they stretch less.