Altering Thrifts

If I want to buy new shorts for myself I'll have to fork over between $15.00 to $20.00 per pair -- and that's at Wal-Mart, which is supposed to be cheap. I'd rather save money and make them, which is why I thrifted these two pair of pants to alter on my recent trip to our brick and mortar Goodwill. Both were $13.98.

To alter pants into shorts, you put them on, mark with a safety pin where you want the hem of the shorts on one leg, take them off, and cut off the leg you marked 1-1/2" below the mark in a straight line. Fold the pants in half, cut off the other leg at the exact same spot, then turn them inside out, double fold the hem inside out by 3/4" on both legs, pin and sew on a sew machine. You can sew them by hand but you'll need to use small stitches.

The white pair of pants (I was tempted to keep these as trousers for winter, but I kept imagining how easily I'd stain them.)

Here are the finished shorts. They fit me perfectly, they have pockets, and I love that I could alter them to the length I prefer to wear with shorts.

While I had the machine out I also tailored a pair of pajamas pants that were a tad too loose on me.

Learning to tailor clothes to your body is pretty easy. There are tutorials on how to thrift and alter wardrobe items on Youtube that are very good. Plus if you thrift what you alter you end up with clothes that fit you better and make you more comfortable for a lot less money.

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Thrifty Crochet

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