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I have bought so many pairs of pants that gap in the back of the waist. When I sit down or bend over it might give someone a show that I don’t want them to see, besides the discomfort of having to constantly pull up my pants. Apparently I’m not the only one who has this problem because I have had many clients bring in jeans with the same problem. On slacks there is a more straight forward solution because you can acutally take the waistband apart for the alteration. However, on jeans there is so much top stitching and so many heavy seams that taking the waistband apart is unrealistic so darts are the best solution.
Depending on the hollow of your back the darts may need to only extend through the waistband or you want to extend them down, but don’t try to go below the line as shown below, because that will most likely result in an uncomforatble bump when you are wearing the pants.
Begin by pin fitting the waist while the pants are on if possible.
The amount the pants need to be taken in should be divided between two darts, on rare occaisions when the pants need to be taken in more than 2 inches I use 4 darts. The finished darts should look like this from the inside after they have been sewn. You can sew the darts with a home machine or on my prefered industrial machine that I use for almost every alteration.
Once the darts are machine stitched, cut down the center of the dart through the waistband.
DO NOT extend your cut to the base of the dart because that will compromise the security of your stitching as the seam allance gets smaller.
Then take a hand sewing needle and stitch the dart open.
Without this the dart may feel like a bump in your back, but when you open the seam and stitch it flat, it makes the pants much more comfortable.
Take note of where I ended the cut on the dart.
The finished darts should look like this, notice how they blend right in.
Be sure to check out my post on making a wide leg jean narrow as well. And follow me on facebook to catch my live training sewing videos.