how to fix a shirt that is too big without sewing

Sewing is an artsy method of doing a lot of things with fabrics. You can create new clothes, sew torn clothes, create designs, sew a soft toy and do so much more with sewing.

But sewing is not a very easy job and sometimes you need a solution in minutes and that is when you can turn to simple hacks that do not need sewing but can get the job done.

9 Methods to Make Pants Waist Smaller Without Sewing

Method 1. Using Heat

Step 1. This method is mostly used to make a pair of jeans pants waist smaller. The first thing you need to do is to make sure that you wash your pants in hot water. Don't mix with other types of clothes while washing them. Also, don't use fabric softener.

Remember to turn your pants inside out to avoid tearing as they tumble around in the wash. You could also use a bucket of hot water for this step. Put your jeans in the bucket of hot water and use a stick to ensure that your jeans are covered by the water.

wash your pants in hot water

Step 2. After your thorough hot water wash, you need to now dry your jeans. You can air-dry them or throw them in the drier. If you use a drier, make sure to turn it up to the highest level of heat. Also, take as long a time as possible for this process.

Step 3. Once your pants are dry, it's time to wear them. After washing your jeans pants with hot water and drying them in the hottest settings in a drier, they will fit as snuggly as possible when you wear them.

Method 2. Boiling Your Pants

Step 1. This method is a variation of the above method. When you can't wash your pants with hot water, you can boil them. First, get a large saucepan and make sure that your pants can fit into it.

get a large saucepan and make sure that your pants can fit into it

Step 2. Throw your pants into the saucepan and add water. Make sure that the pants are fully covered by the water. Make sure to turn the pants inside out.

Step 3. Put the saucepan on a fire and bring the water to boil with the pants soaked.

Step 4. Once the water is boiling, lower the heat and let it simmer. This should take about 20-30 minutes for this method to be effective.

Step 5. Put off the fire after the time is up and bring your saucepan down to the floor. Since the water is still hot, you can use a stick to get your jeans from the saucepan.

Step 6. Dry your jeans pants in the drier at the hottest temperature level. Also, leave them in the drier for longer than you do other types of clothes. Or, you can air-dry them. Check their care instructions to identify the best way to dry them.

Step 7. Wear the now shrunk jeans pants. You will feel that the jeans fit much snugglier and are more comfortable than before. Or, they may shrink more than you wanted. Making them tighter than you expected and even uncomfortable when worn. Although this only lasts for a small period.

Step 8. The more you wear the jeans, the more the tightening effect of this method fades. Thus, you will need to wash your jeans in hot water every time you want to wear them for the waist to fit you perfectly.

Method 3. Using Your Belt Loop

Step 1. Wear your pants to the waist level as you normally would. When you have worn your pants, you realize that the waist size is slightly larger and the pants are loose on you.

Step 2. Take the belt loop closest to your button and pass it over it to hook it. This effectively reduces your pant's waist size.

Step 3. With the loop on your button, pass it through your buttonhole. Your previously loose pants now fit comfortably and snuggly. You can use this method if you can't find a belt as fast as you would like. Or, when a belt is going to prevent the outfit from looking as good as it should.

Method 4. Using A Rubberband

Step 1. Wear your pants normally to the waist level.

Step 2. Take a rubber band and pass it through the buttonhole if the pants waist size is too big and you can't button up easily.

Take a rubber band and pass it through the buttonhole

Step 3. Tie a knot on your rubber band to hold it firmly on your pants.

Step 4. Take your rubber band and hook it around the button on your pants to hold the pants around your waist snuggly and comfortably.

Method 5. Using Safety Pins

Step 1. Wear your pants to see how they fit. This also helps you to identify how large your pants are at your waist.

Step 2. Grab one side of your pants around the waist and see the amount of fabric that is excess. Repeat for the other side.

Step 3. Mark the area on the pants that touches your waist. This is where the pants would fit you perfectly if they were the right size.

Step 4. On the marked side of the pants, insert a safety pin. Do the same for the other side of your pants.

insert a safety pin

Now your pants fit tightly onto your waist. This is a fast way to make your pants waist smaller without sewing. You will need to cover your pants with a long T-shirt so that your waist is not visible.

Method 6. Using Elastic

Step 1. Wear your pants and close the button to see how they fit around your waist.

Step 2. Pinch the excess fabric around your waist that makes the fabric of your pants lose. Do this for both sides of the pants.

Step 3. Estimate how big the excess fabric of the pants is in inches. You can do this by pinching the backside of your pants and putting a mark on the two sides where the excess or loose fabric meets. Take off your pants and measure how long it is between the two marks.

Step 4. Now, take your elastic band and cut as long as the space on your pants you want to seal.

Step 5. Put your pants back on. Hold two belt loops of the pants, preferably at the back, and pass the length of your elastic through them.

Step 6. Tie a tight knot to hold the elastic in place and also to reduce the waist size of your large pants. Your pants will now fit you comfortably.

Step 7. You can decide to wear a long T-shirt to cover your ingenuity with the elastic band. Or, you can tie the elastic band around two belt loops on either side of the pants instead of the back for the same effect.

Method 7. Using Binder Clip

Step 1. Wear your pants and close the buttons as you would fitting pants.

Step 2. Hold your pants by the top of the waist. Starting on one side, pinch the pants until you have that side fit your desired waist size.

Step 3. Clip your binder onto one side of your waist at the desired point.

Step 4. Repeat for the other side and you now have your formerly large pants perfectly fitting.

Step 5. Wear a jacket or a long T-shirt to hide the binder clips.

Method 8. Fold the Waist

Step 1. Wear your pants and close the button. This helps you to identify the size of the excess fabric around your waist.

Step 2. Holding your pants on both sides at the top of your waist, pull them up then fold them inwards. If the pants aren't too loose this will help them fit around your waist comfortably.

pull them up then fold them inwards.

Step 3. If the pants are still too loose, you can make another fold around your waistline.

Step 4. You can make the fold inwards or outwards for the same effect.

Method 9. Taking In The Sides Of Your Pants Using A Dart

Step 1. Wear your pants inside out.

Step 2. Bring your hands to the back of the pants and at the center belt loop, pinch the excess fabric into a bunch. Make sure that the amount of fabric you have in your hand covers both sides of the pants from the center belt loop.

Step 3. At the point where your pants fabric meets, mark two points each equidistant from the center belt loop.

Step 4. Take off your pants and place them on your working table.

Take off your pants and place them on your working table

Step 5. From the points you have marked on the waistline, use pins to mark and secure the excess fabric of your pants. Do this on both sides. Take these pins up to the thigh level of your pants or the knee level if you want to make your pants a skinny fit. For the best results, mark up to 3 inches from your waist into your pants.

Step 6. Thread your needle with a thread that is similar in color to your pants.

Step 7. With a firm stitch, hem in the excess fabric of your pants. A backstitch is the best to use in this situation. It holds firmly to your fabric, making sure that the hem wouldn't come off when you wear the pants.

Step 8. After you have finished hand sewing, turn the pants and wear them. Confirm that the stitch is holding properly and that your pants now fit you perfectly.

How to Make My Pants Waist Smaller with Sewing

The above-mentioned method is the easiest way of reducing your waist size but it does not offer proper finishing. With that method you also stand the risk of pricking yourself with the safety pins, if they open by chance.

Following is an equally simple method of reducing the waist size but this one uses a sewing machine. To execute this method, you will need a sewing machine and basic sewing skills. Let's see how to use this method to reduce your pants' waist size.

one uses a sewing machine

Step 1. Turn your waist inside out and wear it. Stand in the front of the mirror and pinch it at the sides.

Step 2. Pinch your pants equally on both the sides so that your waist correction stays balanced after sewing.

Step 3. Mark the pinched waist with a tailor's chalk so that you will know where you have to sew once you remove the pants.

Step 4. Remove the pants and lay it flat on a surface. Hold the fabric of your waist at the points that you had marked. Pinch and secure with the help of pins. Do this for both sides.

Step 5. Mark the line on which you need to sew. Remember from the pinched area you have to narrow down your stitches towards the side stitches of your pants.

Step 6. Thread your sewing machine with a matching thread and set the stitches to small, straight stitches.

Step 7. Secure your fabric under the sewing foot and remove the pins. Sew on the lines that you have marked.

After sewing on both sides, your pants are now ready to wear.

In this method, you stitch the sides of your pants but you can also reduce your pants' waist by stitching at two points at the back of the pants. This process needs more finesse because the stitches will be visible, so you will have to professionally tuck in and if you are not sure if you can do a fine job, stick to stitching on the sides.

How to Reduce the Waist of a Skirt?

You can use both the above-mentioned methods to reduce the waist size of the skirt. There's one more method to work with skirts and this applies to skirts that already have an elastic.

skirts that already have an elastic.

You can simply remove the elastic and replace it with a good one. One more thing that you can do with the elastic is, make a cut in the fold of the waist, pull out the elastic and pinch it as much as you want to tighten your waist.

You can secure this pinch with a pin or you can sew it. You can also cut the extra elastic that you have held in the pinch and sew the ends of the elastic together. Choose any method based on your comfort and expertise and your skirt will be good to go.

How to Make a Dress Shorter without Sewing?

Don't be surprised, this is completely doable. Again, it is a smart hack and may not be as flawless as sewing. You will need a pair of scissors, an iron and a hem tape to shorten your dress without sewing. Following are the few steps that will give you a short dress in no time.

an iron and a hem tape to shorten your dress

Step 1. Cut the hem of your dress to the new length.

Step 2. Iron the cut hem to straighten all the wrinkles.

Step 3. Fold the hem inside. Make this fold of an inch. Now iron the hem.

Step 4. Make another fold of the same size and iron again.

Step 5. Now is the time to seal the hem and this will be done by a hem tape.

Step 6. Open the hem tape and insert it under the fold of the dress.

Step 7. Iron the fold and hold the iron in one place for a few seconds, until the hem tape fuses to the fabric.

The amount of time you need to iron the hem depends on the type of material you are working with. Lighter materials need less time as compared to thick fabrics.

This method can be used to reduce the length of any kind of straight dress be it a skirt, a frock, a sundress or a simple wrap around.

No-sew method is simple and provides easy solutions to those who do not know how to sew. These little tricks make life easier when it comes to fixing the waist or the length of your dress. All the methods mentioned in this article may not be permanent but they can definitely save the day.