My daughter is growing like a weed, except she’s only growing up, not out. She’s got 4-5T legs and a 3T waist. That means that most of the pants we find that are long enough won’t stay up.
I try to only buy pants with an adjustable waist, but sometimes I come across a great deal or something super cute that I just can’t pass up. I decided to try adding elastic myself, and you know what? It’s super easy!
You can even do this without a sewing machine as long as you don’t mind a little hand stitching.
Materials
button hole elastic
small, sharp pair of scissors
two buttons that fit through your elastic
Fray Check
needle and thread
Step 1
Starting on the right inside of the waist, snip two holes to create a casing for the elastic. Make sure your scissors don’t go through to the other side! Apply Fray Check to the raw edges.
Step 2
Cut a piece of elastic that’s about one inch longer than between your holes. Fold one edge over and sew. This is the edge you’ll be using to adjust the pants.
Step 3
Sew a button in front of the casing you’ve created.
Step 4
Thread the elastic through the waist casing with the finished edge going through the front. You can tuck the unfinished edge into the back.
Step 5
Sew a line of stitches to secure the elastic. See arrow.
Here’s what you’ll see on the outside of the pants.
Repeat on left inside of the waist.
refashion: The only thing worse than sizing for women’s pants is sizing for kids’ clothes. At least with this little trick, I can just make sure pants look long enough when I buy them. It’s nice knowing how easy it is to adjust the waist. Maybe I should try this on my jeans!
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58 Responses to how to add adjustable elastic to kids’ pants
in 5 easy steps
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about
Julie is a freelance designer and writer. She has a passion for finding new uses for old, loved things, and will sew anything: sweaters, shirts, jeans. Nothing is safe if it fits under her presser foot!subscribe
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I love you for this. No, really. You’ve just saved me the heartache of not having any pants that will stay on Heath’s little diapered butt. Looks like Joann’s will be on my list of places to stop tomorrow so I can start fixing up all of his pants. I’ll have to check a pair that already have this done for exact prime placement so I don’t get that weird bunching effect though.
Thanks for doing this tutorial, I really can’t wait to try it out!
[...] Julie from Julie-k shows how you can add an adjustable waist to an existing pair of pants. Whether you’re adding the adjustable waist to a pair of jeans from a clearance rack, thrift store, or a hand-me-down, now you can get the adjustable waist pants without doing too much damage to your pocketbook! Go to the tutorial. [...]
Brilliant!! Do you know how much money we’ve spent over the last 6 years getting adjustable waist jeans for our skinny-minnie daughter? She’s currently a size 6 in length, size 4 in waist. With so much waist to take in, we have to be careful which ones we buy. (Some cheaper adjustable waist pants don’t have elastic that goes small enough.)
Anyway, I posted a link to your tutorial on Craft Gossip Sewing:
http://sewing.craftgossip.com/tutorial-add-an-adjustable-elastic-waistband-to-kids-pants/2009/11/25/
–Anne
Ooh this is great Julie! Thanks so much, I’ll be linking.
Awesome…I need to try this for my son’s pants. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Thanks!!! I have a pair for shorts for my son that has the elastic in it and they are my favorite pair. So glad I can modify the pants that we already have now!
This is an awesome trick!! All my kids are long and skinny, and it can be a real trial finding clothes to fit, especially secondhand. I will definitely remember this! Thanks!
Thanks! I never even thought of adding my own elastic!
this is awesome! i’ve been looking for a tutorial on this!!
everything long enough for my 3 year old slides right down his body. can’t wait to fix that!
A million times thank you! This is brilliant. I have one snake hips boy and one who is so long waisted that he outgrows pants in the waist long before he’s ready for the next size up, lengthwise. You are saving my sanity!
So great!!! I have a skinny mini too. Thankfully he is old enough now that they have slims (and sometimes he still needs a little sinch in for the first little bit!). Thanks so much for sharing! I think I will try this on swim trunks that don’t have a draw string.
Katrina
Duh! Why didn’t I think of that? What a GREAT idea! Thanks!
Thanks for this. I just took tucks in 3 pairs of my very skinny boy’s jeans – I think I will redo them with this idea. I know he will like it better! He is extremely sensitive to bumps and seams.
I found this post through Craftzine. My son’s about to get 4 more pair of pants he can wear! Before we started potty training, he had some pants that were the right length, but were a bit too wide in the waist. But I just put a belt on him and all was fine. Now he’s potty trained and I haven’t gotten a belt that he can work yet. This little alteration looks incredibly easy and something I can do in an afternoon…as soon as I head to Hancock’s for some button elastic!
thank you! i don’t have time to figure this out on my own but need to use this on several of my sons pants. they have been waiting for a few weeks. just need the elastic & fray check!
God bless you! My skinny, beanpole children and I thank you from the bottom of our hearts!
thanks a bunch… my kiddo too have the same prob and not all pants are available with the elastic. Now she will not have problem.
oh my gosh.. THANK YOU!!! I have a 7yr old.. whose legs fit an 8.. but her waist fits 3T. Very tall and very skinny. Plus she hates belts. Not to mention my littlest one who has the smallest hips I’ve ever seen on a 3 year old. And no butt to speak of.. Pants do not stay up on him either… so thank you thank you thank you!!
I can’t believe I didn’t think of this! (but I’m so glad you did– thanks for sharing)
I’ve got a tall string bean of a boy who hates to wear belts. Thank you! Thank you!
Just this week I’d decided to try this. I need to try to find the button hole elastic and as soon as I do I’ll get busy. I’ll probably be linking too. THANK YOU THANK YOU
Very smart. I’ve struggled with a tall daughter and clothing for years. Now with the second child, I know I will be using this little trick. Thanks for sharing.
This is pure genius!! My Little has a 2T waist and 3T legs! Now she can wear all the pants I have bought for her without using a spring clip to cinch the waist!
Thanks!!!
I recently wrote a whole blog post about the genius of adjustable waist pants. My son is very skinny for his age, and pants are such a pain! Thanks so much for posting this tutorial! I may go back and link to it in my post!
I can not believe I did not think of doing this on my own. I have to buy pants like these for my leggy daughter but the buttons usually sit right on her hips which dig into her skin, if I make some I can move the buttons over a bit so its not right on the bone. Thank you thank you
[...] Remember our discussion about pants for skinny kids, and the miracle of adjustable waist pants? Julie K has a tutorial on how to add adjustable elastic to kids’ pants in 5 easy steps. [...]
wow, that is so neat! thank you thank you for sharing this tutorial! my son has the SAME problem as your daughter, his legs are 2 sizes longer than his waist is wide.
You totally rock! My son & daughter is exactly like your daughter! They have tinie tiny waists and longer legs! Thanks for sharing!
I love this! I’ve been wanting to do this for the exact same reason. 4-year-old son, 4T-5T height, 3T waist. Thank you so much for the tutorial!
I was looking for how to put elastic in the waitband like this and your post is the first i came across and thank you! I love this and you saved me some money.
Thank you very much for posting this tutorial! My daughter has an 18 month-sized waist, but needs at least a 2T in length. Thankfully, now I can adjust her store-bought clothes!
Thank you! It’s a great idea. A friend told me to try this and I found your site while searching for more precise directions. I got all ready to head to JoAnn’s the morning, but ran into a problem when I pulled all her too big jeans out of the drawer. Not a single pair has just two stitch lines across the back. They all have three… one is right across the middle of the elastic. I would have to take out the entire “seam.” Do you know if it would still work? Would it ruin the integrity of the pants?
She’s not quite in 2T yet… maybe I just need to wait until she doesn’t have any elastic in her pants.
I’m smacking myself in the head and thinking “why didn’t I think of that!” My daughter is exactly the same way and I am forever leaving super good deals on super cute clothes because I know they just won’t stay on her waist. Thank you, thank you, thank you for turning on a light bulb.
This.Is.Brilliant! And so simple, I cannot believe I have not thought of it already! Thank you so much for the tutorial.
I just found your blog through WR and I am looking forward to perusing your site.
Thank you sooooo much for sharing this. I have an 18 month old with LOOOOONNNGGG legs and finding him pants is a huge task. I often find myself attempting to dart the pants which is extremely time consuming and hard to get the right fit. Im heading out right now to buy a large supply of elastic and buttons. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU
YAY! I a SO happy about this. I’ve fixed 4 pairs of shorts since I read this earlier today! The best part is that I didn’t have to spend any money. I cut the adjustable straps and buttons from old pants and used them for this project! Thanks for posting this tutorial…it was either this, or my son was going to wear “Daisy Dukes” for the summer.
Fantasic! Thank you so much – I found this page by accident, and it’s just what I need for my son!
You know, I have friends who refuse to even sew on a button! For them, they use the same method, and add a safety pin to keep the elastic in place.
Thank you so much for posting this how to. I was in desperate need of a tutorial exactly like this one. Your directions were easy to follow and simple. I am very pleased with the way my alterations turned out. Thank you.
Thank you so much!!!! This is exactly what I was looking for. Very well done directions and illustrations.
My son needs a boys 4 or 5 length and the waist of 24 months or 2t. I have been trying to find jeans for him but I am striking out. Now I can make them adjustable myself. Thank you.
This is a great idea. I haven’t tried it yet but I am going to> Thanks so very much for Printing this for us.
I’m totally going to do this for my son! I love the idea!
This is SUPER COOL! … and easy … LOVE IT!
I love to sew and recycle or modify when I can… yahooo! thanks for solving a problem for me!
I was just wondering lately about how I could do this with my daughter’s pants. Thanks so much for this tutorial, will be trying it out in the next few days!
This is going to save my life! thanks so much for posting this!! I blogged about it here:
http://makealong.blogspot.com/2011/01/adjustable-elastic-waist.html
[...] Remember my adjustable elastic tutorial? This is kind of the same, but better. The elastic goes around the entire waist, so there’s [...]
Thank you for this post! You have detailed the procedure so well. I tried it on my son’s shorts and it came out good. I am going to do on his other shorts as well. Now I dont need to look for shorts with adjustable waist band for him. You saved my $$. Thanks a lot!!!
LOL, I love it.
and I HAVE done it on adult clothes. especially my pregnancy trousers.
I found some great board shorts for my skinny son and came home and followed this method — two pairs in less than an hour. Thanks! I didn’t want to cut more holes and not have them fit, so the elastic goes all the way around the waist and fits him comfortably. Something I learned while shopping — no clerks at the local fabric store knew what button-hole elastic was, but I looked long enough on my own to find it.