Clothing Alterations for Beginners

Your jeans fit everywhere except the gap at the back of the waist. Your work trousers drag under your heels. The bridesmaid dress arrived and zips only halfway, and the wedding is weeks away. You searched for a book that teaches how to alter clothes you already own, and every sewing book you found started with a pattern and a bolt of new fabric. Clothing Alterations for Beginners is that missing book. It teaches alterations only: how to hem, take in, let out and fix the fit of real garments from your closet, starting from zero, with or without a sewing machine. This is not a garment-making course, a pattern-fitting manual for people who already sew, or a refashioning book about turning old shirts into tote bags. It starts where you are, holding clothes that almost fit, and shows you first how to judge whether a piece can be altered and how hard the job will be. Then it takes you through each alteration in numbered steps, with the measurements and machine settings stated plainly and a clear line between what a beginner can do and what belongs with a tailor. Inside, you'll learn: How to read a garment's seams in two minutes and rate any alteration Green, Yellow or Red before you buy or cut The small kit and basic machine settings alterations need, plus which jobs you can do entirely by hand How to pin-fit clothes on your own body, do the simple circumference math, and use the Baste, Wear, Then Cut rule so you never cut away something you need How to hem jeans without the homemade look, including the method that keeps the original hem How to close a gaping jeans waist at center back, taper pant legs, and take in dresses, tops and shirts, including lined dresses and invisible zippers How much a seam can really be let out, and how to add room or length when there is not enough fabric How to fix sliding straps, gaping necklines, long sleeves and low armholes, and which shoulder jobs to leave alone How to plan a bridesmaid dress, gown or suit alteration on a realistic timeline, including converting a too-tight dress to a lace-up back Pull the almost-fits pile out of the corner, pick one garment, and make it fit.

Imad Muratspahic is an independent author of practical how-to guides, technical handbooks, history and fiction. The books aim to be clear, honest and useful from the first page.