Easy Elastic Waistband Darts

I have tall, skinny boys.  They’re built just like The Hubsters.  I can’t tell you how many busy Church/School mornings I have run downstairs to the sewing machine to hurry and take in a pair of pants.

Let me show you how fast and easy it can be. 

Keep in mind that this method can also be used on a regular waistband.

Crocky brought me these pants one morning and the waist was WAY too wide.  I was going to take them in using the method I used here, but I had pink thread on my serger.  That wasn’t going to work.

I made two darts in the waistband instead.  Find the center seam in the back of the pants.  Find the sides of the waistband.  You’re going to put your darts right in between the center seam and the side seam.  Like this:

See where the waistband puckers?  That’s where I sewed the darts.  Now do this to the other side, too.  You want them to match!  What is a dart?  Oh, silly me!  This is a dart:

See how I gradually sewed from the waistband to where the pockets would be?  Except these pants don’t have back pockets…

One dart…

…two darts!

…and this is what it should look like on the outside:

You can barely see those darts, and now your kid can keep his pants up!  That alteration took less than five minutes.  Awesome!