Tuesday, May 08, 2012
Help! How to lengthen rise? or patch mid zipper?
I am only 5'9" but I cannot buy pants at the store due to not only the legs, but especially the rise.
When I was young and had a junior style body, I wore missus, which has a longer rise and I dealt with the legs being too short. Now that I have a missus style body (for some years now) pants don't fit unless I find just the right talls. JCPennys occasionally fit with ok quality, but they are plain and polyesterish and widelegged, ok for office or conservative dressy but not otherwise. Eddie Bauer used to fit before they got 5 dif styles of fit, it bugs me to pay $10 more for tall and their talls are actually too long legged. LLBean talls are not longer rise; Long Tall Sally is always out of my size, etc etc etc.
ANYWAY, ENOUGH WHINING CUT TO THE CHASE: Is there a way to lengthen a (thrifted) pair of zippered pants in the rise? I have a fantasy of adding an inch of nice contrasting fabric (or even denim if its jeans) a couple inches below the waist (and adding the same fabric on the legs somewhere.) Then I remember the zipper. Has anyone ever patched into the middle of a zipper, adding a part of another zipper? Could I just add the fabric around the back and taper it to the front where the zipper is?
Am I crazy to even think of this? Do I just need to learn to sew myself pants from scratch?
I just had the thought that I could shorten the zipper at the top and add buttons up to the waist. i am not great at either zippers or buttons tho. Plus tearing out and putting in a new zip is a daunting idea.
Ideas?
TIA
Kathy
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8 comments:
Um, patching in the middle of a zipper won't work, the line of little zipper teeth has to be unbroken. You would have to take out the zipper and put in a longer one - it's really not as difficult as everyone seems to think, and you can also do it by hand if your sewing machine feels intimidated :) Otherwise, the ideas you tossed around sound great, I imagine a stripe of contrasting fabric just between the waistband with the belt loops and the rest of the pants would look pretty cool. Also, have you thought of thrifting longer men's pants and adjusting the fit to your body? (This could be a lot of work, especially with jeans, but it may be worth it if you can't find pants that fit you...)
You are right men's pants have a longer rise generally. I used to wear mens jeans years ago.
I just wish I could get some of the pretty bright pants other women wear. I suppose I could hope to find some of the wilder men's golf pants from by gone days!
Doing a new zipper by hand is also a good idea. i was picturing trying to change the zipper of a fully constructed pair of pants by putting it under the needle of my non frree arm machines.
thanks for the ideas.
Kathy
hhhhmmmm, you could remove the zipper all together and make them button ups or make them tie up the front if there's not enough fabric with a ribbon or string that matches the new fabric.
I'm not sure how to lower the crotch without adding fabric. I suppose if the pants were too wide I could salvage some from the sides and try adding the same fabric to the crotch area.
Thanks for the idea of the sewing forum uk.
Kathy
You might want to try to add a This will lenghting the rise without having to do anything to the zipper or the waist band. (if needed, it is a triangle that is about 6 inches long and as wide at the top as needed. You will add this piece to both leg inseams.
Hope this helps.
I think blogger took out the term that I used for this piece to add. Lets call it rise lenghtener piece.
All are really great ideas!
Can't wait to see the outcome!
LaLaLauren, EOD
thank you! I'm going to Thrift shop for a likely pair. I don't usually buy pants except talls cuz I know they won't fit. I'm going to look for the right size otherwise in a bright color, or a dyeable fabric.
I would love to have purple pants or green to wear with my pansy shoes.
Kathy
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