Most women, when buying new outfits, want to look fashionable and stylish. Every season, designers offer new fashion trends, and it is simply impossible to keep up with them. For example, having bought a spectacular mini skirt of a certain style dictated by fashion, after a couple of months or years you can understand that it is not relevant. An item may be of high quality and perfectly preserved, but many fashionistas will no longer dare to wear it. Simple methods of altering a product will come to the rescue in these situations. One of which is lengthening skirts.
If the child's skirt is short
The young fashionista has grown out of her favorite clothes. The short items have been preserved well and will still serve. How to update? First you need to release the hem of the bottom of the skirt. It can be sewn with a narrow double seam on a machine. Turn the edge of the cut 0.5-0.7 cm inside out. Make a line 0.2-0.3 cm from the fold. Fold the re-stitched edge over. Place a second machine stitch next to the first. Or edge the bottom with a transverse trim that matches the color of the product.
A wide variety of options can be used to lengthen a children's skirt.
Trim stripes can also make the skirt look longer. The finishing will look more harmonious. To avoid shrinkage, new additional fabric should be washed before sewing. You can simply moisten it and iron it with an iron. Children's skirts with transverse pleats are perfect for lengthening. The child is gradually growing up. The folds are opened one by one.
Stylish train
Here's another rather interesting way to lengthen a denim skirt. The photo below will demonstrate the principle itself. The skirt can be absolutely anything, not just denim.
The essence of the method is that you don’t have to touch the main product at all. You just need to take a light fabric in a matching or contrasting color and cut out a beautiful train from it. Place it on a stylish belt and then simply fasten it at the hips over the main skirt. This way you get a two-in-one option. At any moment you can unfasten the train and again enjoy the trendy and modern mini.
By the way, you can make several trains from materials of different colors and textures and change them depending on your mood.
As you can see, lengthening a skirt yourself is not that difficult. There are a lot of options, and only you can decide which one to choose.
Alteration of a four-piece skirt
The yoke in an original way adds length to the skirt from four wedges cut on the bias. It is attached to the top of the product. Decorative strips of checkered or contrasting colored material are sewn at the joints.
First you need to undo the belt. Measure 4 cm along the side seams. And cut off the top of the skirt. To replace the cut out pieces of cloth, a yoke made of finishing material is sewn on. The new part is 5 cm higher than the cut parts. Measure 25 cm from the sewn yoke to the bottom. In parallel, cut each of the four wedges along the grain thread. Cut strips of finishing fabric 6 cm wide with the addition of 1-1.5 cm seam allowance. Place them in the slits of the resulting skirt parts and attach them.
Inserts
Here's another way to lengthen your skirt without much effort. It's a little similar to the previous one. In this case, an additional strip of material is inserted into the middle of the product.
Cut the hem of the skirt, leaving 5-10 cm from the hem. Take a strip of fabric of a different color and stitch it between the two pieces. Finish and press edges.
To make the skirt look more impressive, the insert needs to be made a little narrower than the cut off part of the hem. If a significant increase in length is required, several additional inserts of different colors and widths can be made.
Mesh, guipure or other translucent fabric looks very beautiful as an insert. It will add elegance and sexiness to your skirt.
Update of a narrow straight pencil skirt
With the help of a yoke, a narrow skirt with a straight or slightly widened silhouette is lengthened. First, open each dart and seams on the sides. Start cutting out the yoke. You can take the fabric from which the skirt itself is made. If it could not be preserved, they select another canvas of similar quality that is suitable in color. Be sure to machine the slots on the side. After all, a skirt of this cut makes movement difficult.
In this video, using the example of a skirt, I will show you how to beautifully lengthen clothes. If you want to lengthen a dress or skirt along the bottom using a stitching strip, then in order for it to turn out beautifully, with the same thickness of the hem and stitching seam, without layers and recesses, calculate the width of the stitching strip so that the hem of the extension strip and the stitching seam allowance should be processing the edges on the overlocker were joined end-to-end.
Working with leather
How to lengthen a skirt made of leather? After all, this is a fairly delicate material, on which holes from a needle or ripped seams are very clearly visible. There are several options here.
Leather goes perfectly with mesh, thick guipure or rigid tulle. To prevent the holes from the opened seam from being too visible, it is best to apply decorative stripes on top.
Carefully, being careful not to damage the fabric, open the hem. Place the decorative element and carefully stitch, trying to get the needle into the existing holes. A decorative insert can also be made in the middle by cutting off the hem by a few centimeters.
The option with a yoke is not suitable for working with leather. Indeed, as a result, unsightly holes from a needle may form in the most visible places. It will be difficult to hide them. But the skirt will look very stylish if you decorate its hem with long thick fringe. And leather goes well with thick lace running along the hem. By the way, in this case the machine may not be needed at all. The lace is easy to glue with special glue.
This method of lengthening a leather skirt is suitable for those who know how to handle a crochet hook. Carefully open the hem at the hem, and then simply tie the skirt to the desired length, choosing a beautiful pattern. In exactly the same way, you can lengthen a short denim skirt. It will look very good.
Lace lengthens the flared skirt
A gathered or flared skirt made of thin woolen fabric or corduroy is updated with frills or delicate lace. The main thing is to choose the right fabric. Thus, a monotonous frill goes well with a checkered item. It’s a good idea to decorate it with a edging made of the same material as the skirt. Delicate lace will add elegance to the outfit.
When a jacket and skirt are sewn as a suit, the top can be varied with refreshing elements made from frill fabric. The result is an updated stand-up collar, original cuffs and a stylish belt.
An original lace insert can create a completely new style
Second layer
How to lengthen a skirt with your own hands, without ripping out an existing product at all? Recently, tulle skirts have come into fashion. This is what we will use.
Take a piece of tulle or thin guipure of the required length and width 2 times the hem of the original skirt. Sew the end pieces together. You should end up with something like a “pipe” of transparent fabric.
Now fold the “tube” at one end and stitch it directly onto the miniskirt near the waistband. Ready. All that remains is to process the edge of the tulle.
Summer outfit will still serve
With a little imagination, you can turn a short skirt into a beautiful, light outfit. A product made of finely patterned fabric is decorated with a frill of a larger pattern. The main thing is that the color schemes match. Delicate lace or ruffles are suitable for finishing connecting seams.
To lengthen a stylish plain skirt, you can choose summer, natural lace stitching. If its width is 6 cm, then with each row the skirt lengthens by 4 cm. An allowance of 2 cm is left. The seam itself can be easily painted to match the skirt. The entire product can be painted in a special solution.
Waist inserts
To lengthen the product using this method, you need to remove the belt from the skirt. Darts, if any, must also be opened and carefully steamed. From a material suitable in color and texture, you can cut out a new belt, wider than the previous one, and put the product back together.
A special elastic band 10–15 cm wide can also serve as a belt. It can be purchased at a fabric store. True, this option will look advantageous only if the skirt is quite fluffy and made of light fabric.
The next method is suitable for those who can sew quite well and have at least a little knowledge of patterns. This is how the length of a straight skirt or pencil style is corrected. Between the belt and the skirt you can insert a strip of suitable width made of the same material. You will get something like a coquette. Only the darts will need to be re-laid on it. Decorate the junction with a beautiful ribbon or braid and decorate with a bow.
Attention! Do not use lace for this purpose. It will visually add a few centimeters to your hips.
If the skirt is full enough or has pleats, it can also be placed on a yoke. Moreover, depending on its width, you can get completely different styles.
How to lengthen a wedding dress
The most complex and labor-intensive lengthening process is considered to be working with wedding dresses with a fluffy bottom.
To do this, carry out:
- attaching an additional layer of lace that matches the product to the bottom tier,
- inserting a strip of material into the place of the embroidered junction of the skirt and corset.
Important! An additional tier of tulle sewn to the petticoat will add fullness and length to the wedding dress.
How to lengthen the back of a dress
If there is a harness at the back of the model, play with it by inserting a blade. Complemented with lush flounces, this detail can easily be turned into a luxurious train that extends from under the belt.
By gradually building up the fabric tiers, a luxurious diamond overlay is obtained.
For a dress with a short front, it is recommended to use a translucent sheath. For a fluffy fishnet outfit, it is recommended to use flounces, which are sewn into the back of the petticoat in the form of a tail.
We adjust the length of things using original methods with our own hands. Skirts are just garbage!
While preparing for the last publication about mending and lengthening sleeves, I found several interesting photos on the topic of how you can change the length of other parts of clothing.
I present to you a selection of ideas that I found interesting. Nowadays, of course, repairing and extending old things is not so important: in the era of the heyday of the mass market, it is easier to buy new clothes than to remake old ones. However, sometimes it’s a pity to throw away your favorite thing, you want to update or refresh it. Most often, shortening is not difficult, but lengthening beautifully is a little more difficult.
How to lengthen clothes: some interesting ideas for inspiration
As practice shows, even on new things, length adjustments are now often imitated. Let's start with skirts and dresses. For example, inserts made of transparent fabric in the hems of women's clothing.
Of course, the most popular way is to add strips of fabric or lace and braid along the bottom of the product.
I really liked the options with figured and contrasting inserts.
You can lengthen your trousers in the same way: cuffs made of contrasting fabric, lace or fancy inserts along the bottom of the trousers look at least not boring.
A more radical transformation of trousers may consist in the placement of openwork (and other) inserts not at the bottom of the trouser leg, but in the middle, as well as in the combined decoration of pockets and belt with similar lace. The option with knitted cuffs and a change in the shape of the trousers may appeal to sporty girls.
There are plenty of options for blouses and knitted jumpers! The most popular is lace inserts at the bottom of the product. I didn’t give many examples, because this option for decoration and extension is the most common. The main thing is that the inserts look harmonious.
You can extend it not only along the bottom, but also by inserting strips in the middle of the product, if the model allows. Lace and sewing can be successfully replaced with contrasting fabric.
And finally, an idea found on the Internet for lovers of layers and frills: it is not at all necessary to sew the insert to the product! You can make a kind of “skirt” and wear it under any favorite jumper, depending on your look and mood. And if you make it from several different colors and textures, then the number of sets will tend to infinity.
Hem processing
If you don’t know how to lengthen a skirt and don’t know how to sew very well, you can use the simplest option. It will make the product a couple of centimeters longer. You just need to rip open the folded edge of the hem and steam it thoroughly. If there is enough material, you can turn the edge over a little and stitch again. The skirt will become 1–2 cm longer. When there is little fabric and even a small hem is impossible, you can trim the edge with braid. You can also sew additional tape to the hem to create a hem.
An interesting way to finish the edge is fringe. Firstly, the bottom will look quite original, and secondly, such processing will add a few more centimeters to the product.
Don't know how to lengthen a denim skirt? Sew a beautiful flounce of variegated colors along the hem. Finishes with polka dots, stripes, floral or geometric prints look great. Making a shuttlecock is very simple. To do this, it is enough to cut a strip of material 2 times longer than the hem. One edge of the cut needs to be stitched, departing 0.5–1 cm from the cut, and then, pulling one of the threads, gather it evenly, forming beautiful folds. The finished flounce is sewn to the hem, and the cut is processed with an overlock or zigzag stitch.
If you need significant length, you can sew a mesh base to the hem of a short skirt. And then place the finished shuttlecocks on it in several rows.
