The elastic waistband is a wardrobe essential for many of us, allowing for comfort, flexibility and a flattering fit. It is an invaluable addition to pants, skirts and other clothing items and can provide the perfect fit. But what if you find the fit to be too loose or too tight? If this is the case, you’ll likely be wondering how to make the elastic smaller. In this blog post, we’ll explore how to shrink an elastic waistband, detailing the necessary steps, materials and techniques to help you get the perfect fit. We’ll discuss the different ways to shrink an elastic waistband, from using heat and steam to using a solution of vinegar and water. We’ll also discuss how to choose the right size elastic for your garment, the signs of over-shrinking and how to care for the elastic in the future. So, if you’re looking to shrink your elastic waistband, this post is for you!
For best result, dampen a cloth and place over the elastic waistband.Then, iron for 10 seconds, let it sit for 10 seconds and repeat the same steps for about 5 minutes. Doing so continuously will help the pants fit more snug, as the elastic heat up it will gradually shrink more and more.
Easily Shrink a Waistband & Fix that Gap! ♥
Step Three: Fold Waistband in Half Lengthwise
Turn the right side out and sew the waistband in place on either edge, about a half-inch from the raw side. Fold waistband in half lengthwise, right sides together. Leave a 3 inch opening on one side while you stitch around the fold.
How to Shrink Pants: 9 Methods
Depending on how much time you have and how much smaller you want your pants to be, there are a variety of ways to shrink your pants using the nine techniques described here. You can find a straightforward method here that will work for you whether or not you have a washing machine or an iron on hand.
Placing your pants in the washer is the simplest way to make them smaller. Many garments will shrink slightly in size when the water is heated to its highest setting. As a follow-up to the washer method, you can shrink your jeans or pants even more by using the dryer, though the high heat in the dryer might cause your clothes to shrink more than you want!
Most types of cotton clothing won’t successfully shrink in hot water in your washing machine. However, you should probably avoid using this technique on wool clothing or clothing that has a lot of elastic. On synthetic fabrics like polyester, it won’t perform as well.
To shrink pants in your washing machine:
Before you begin, measure your jeans or trousers at the waist and any other key areas such as the length of the legs. This way, you can easily find out if the shrinking process worked later on.
Throw your pants and any laundry that can safely handle hot water into the machine. (Do not put in cotton sheets or other items that might shrink, though!) Measure in your usual amount of laundry detergent.
Set the machine to the hottest possible temperature. If you need to reduce your pants by a full size or more, you can even add a pre-wash soak to the cycle to give your pants longer in hot water.
Finally, run the washer through its full cycle.
Remove the damp pants from the washing machine and re-measure to find out if the pants shrunk as much as you wanted. If they did, hang them up to air dry. Consider trying the dryer method next if the pants did not shrink as much as you wanted.
You can also put your pants in the dryer to make them smaller. The heat and friction of a tumble dry cycle may cause fabric fibers to constrict, shrinking them in size on a microscopic level. Enough heat and motion can shrink clothing quite a bit.
Try washing your pants in the washing machine’s hot water cycle first to get the method’s maximum size reduction. After that, dry them for at least 30 minutes at a high heat setting.
You can either wash your pants in cold water and then dry them for a less drastic resizing by placing dry jeans or pants in the dryer for thirty minutes.
The main thing to keep in mind with the dryer method is that it can quickly spiral out of control and cause clothing to shrink more than you might want!
This process does take a few hours, so make sure you have a quiet evening at home to set aside before attempting the shrink-while-wearing method if you don’t want to wash your pants and don’t mind a little damp fabric on your skin.
This technique works especially well on denim jeans.
You could even set yourself up to watch a TV show or enjoy a glass of wine while shrinking your jeans, which is honestly the most entertaining method.
First, put on your too-big jeans. Take off any watches or jewelry that could get damaged by moisture, as you will get wet during this process!
Fill up your bathtub with hot water. You will want the water as hot as you can comfortably touch.
Next, sit down in the water while wearing your jeans. You will need to stay in the tub for a couple of hours, so you might want to bring a book or your phone to keep yourself entertained!
If the water starts to cool down, drain away some of it and turn on more hot water to refill the tub with hotter water.
After a couple of hours, drain the tub and stand up to let some of the water drip off your jeans. Then use a towel to gently press out most of the remaining moisture.
Finally, wear the jeans until they dry. This bit starts to feel a little damp and clingy, but it is the most important step in the process, as the jeans will naturally dry to your shape, causing them to reduce in size!
You can try to shrink some of your pants by using an iron on the steam setting if you don’t want to risk putting them in the dryer. Because it gives you more control over the process, this method is ideal if you only want to shrink your pants’ waist or leg openings.
Place the too-large part of your trousers or jeans on your ironing board. Fill your iron with water in preparation for steaming.
Turn your iron to its hottest steam setting.
Hold the iron just above the fabric and do not let it actually touch the cloth. Hover over each of your target areas for a moment, allowing the steam to dampen the fabric.
Turn off the iron and let the jeans or trousers cool on the ironing board until dry.
While the warm water soak method requires the longest amount of time, it does an excellent job of evenly and gently shrinking the pants. You won’t have to be concerned about one pant leg being longer than the other using this method!
You will need a bathtub, a large sink with a drain plug, or a large bucket or bin for this method. Fill up your chosen container about two-thirds full with hot water. The water will cool quickly down to warm and then cold–don’t worry about that!
Lower the pants into the warm water.
Leave the pants to soak overnight. It does take a while!
In the morning, carefully remove the pants from the tub of water. Let them drip into the tub for a few minutes instead of wringing them out, as that motion could stretch out the fibers you just shrunk.
Lay the jeans on a large bath towel to dry for a while. Once the jeans feel damp instead of wet, you can hang them up to air dry.
Pants that have been soaked in boiling water have a significant tendency to shrink. Only if you want to shrink your pants by more than a full size should you use this technique!
The drawback of this method is that you need a very large pot and space on the stovetop to complete it. Additionally, you’ll want to exercise caution to prevent scalding yourself with hot water.
Fill a large, clean pot about two-thirds full of water. You need to leave some room to fit the pants in as well later on!
Put the pot on your stove and turn the heat up to high. Bring the water to a rolling boil. You will see bubbles frothing at the top of the water when it reaches this point.
Turn off the heat and move the pot away from the hot burner on your stove.
Carefully lower the pants into the hot water. Let them soak for anywhere from 5 to 25 minutes, depending on if you want to shrink them minimally or a whole lot.
Carry the pot to your kitchen sink and slowly pour out some water.
Use tongs to carefully lift the hot pants out of the pot. Empty the remaining water from the pot and put the pants back in the pot to transport easily.
At this point, you can either hang up the pants to air dry or put them in the dryer to make them even smaller!
While you can use this method to target small portions of your pants, like the waistband, it is not practical to shrink the whole item. If you’re on the road and do not have access to a washer, dryer, or stovetop, you can try using a hairdryer to shrink your pants in a pinch.
Dampen your target area with a spray bottle. Alternatively, you can wash the jeans or trousers in a cold-water cycle in your washing machine and take them out damp before trying this method.
Smooth out the target section on a large bath towel. You will want to work near an outlet, so your hairdryer cord can easily reach your workspace.
Turn your hairdryer on its hottest setting. Sweep it back and forth over the damp fabric, targeting the portion you want to make smaller.
Keep going until the fabric feels dry!
One of the quickest ways to shrink your pants quickly is to iron them over a wet sheet.
Rather than washing or dampening your pants, soak a clean sheet and wring it out till it feels damp to the touch.
Spread out your pants on a bath towel or ironing board.
Smooth the damp sheet neatly on top.
Iron firmly over top of the damp sheet, going back and forth repeatedly until the sheet feels dry.
Let your pants cool down, and then try them on to see if they feel smaller!
In some circumstances, it might be easiest for you to use a commercial product to help shrink your pants. Commercial items like Woolite and RNK Sew Shrink, for instance, cause some fabrics’ fibers to contract, resulting in a reduction in the garment’s overall size.
But you should carefully read product descriptions because the majority of commercial shrinking agents only function on specific types of fabric.
Last but not least, you might want to think about hiring a skilled tailor to fix your pants. A skilled tailor can create a perfect custom fit for your clothing by simply shrinking a garment.
Method Two
Degree and cut are elastic. To decide how plenty of flexibility you may require for the band to your piece of garb, measure the territory of the individual’s frame that the band will fold over.
Sew together the finishes of your versatile.
Pin the universal to your texture in 4 equitably dispersed spots. Start by sticking the crease of the elastic to the crease on your texture.
Sew the versatile to within the texture. After you have wrapped up the elastic to the texture, stitch the relaxed setup utilizing your sewing system.
Crease over the feel to cowl the flexible band. Shroud the versatile within the texture you are joining in, overlaying the elastic towards within the texture.
Stitch alongside the bottom edges of the collapsed texture.
We believe you have now learned all the vital details of how to make an elastic waistband smaller. Thus you may execute the whole work all your own by applying your acquired knowledge practically. So then, why are you still waiting to get started?
FAQ
How do you fix over stretched elastic?
Although it doesn’t shrink much, it can’t withstand high temperatures as well as polyester.
Does elastic shrink in the dryer?
Answer: Elastic can be preshrunk, but only in cold water. Some elastics’ rubber will be damaged by hot water, weakening it to the point where it loses its snap and spring. This is why elastic doesn’t hold up well in clothing (some of it, at least).
Can you shrink elastic in hot water?
Fortunately, we discovered a trick that will instantly improve the fit of your jeans. A brilliant hack to “alter” large pants was shared on TikTok by style: all you have to do is hook the button to the belt loop on the left and button it back up.
