Wide leg slacks from many decades ago and bell-bottoms of the 70's, have experienced a contemporary resurgence of sorts, and appear in some of today's ready-to-wear. If the slacks would fit and look better with a straight leg or tapered leg silhouette, just a few new seams and re-hemming will convert them. Once favorite clothing is renewed and repurposed - in line with the philosophy of sustainable sewing. At its most basic level, sustainability means meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs; the process of clothing alterations has always met that goal.

Dress slacks, chinos or khakis work best when using this alteration technique. Denim jeans usually have double stitched side seams making this type of alteration difficult although not impossible to reassemble the side seam. Slacks made of stretchy fabrics can be altered as well if care is taken to not elongate the side seams when sewing new seams.

Since the slacks to be altered are presumed to fit well at the waist, hips and thighs, just the part of the pants from the knee down, on both outer and inner side seams will be affected.

Try the slacks on and place a pin at the inside and outside side seams of each knee area.

Turn inside out and transfer marking pins to the inside as well. Open up the pant leg hems and press flat. Place straight pins from the knee area down each side of the pant leg to the pant leg bottom to mark where the new straighter seam lines will be. Baste along the pinned area, remove pins, turn slacks to right side out and try on to see if the new straight or slightly tapered leg is the look desired. Turn inside out, stitch, tapering into the existing side seams at the knee area, trim the seam to remove the old seam, and press seam open. Re-hem.

Some things to consider:

As you pin the new seam, consider that taking in just ½” from each pant leg side seam from the knee area tapering inward toward the hem area to produce the straighter leg will reduce that area width greatly. The new seam on each side should be taken in slightly less than anticipated for careful results. The seam line can always be adjusted in slightly more if necessary.

The new edges of the seam allowance may be stitched to prevent any fraying. Zigzag each new edge or use an overcast stitch or serge the edges together if the original seam edges were serged too. Using pinking shears on the new seam edges may work to prevent fraying rather than snitching as well.

By re-stitching a new seam line from just the knee area down to the opened hem on both the outside and inside of each pant leg, the pant legs will be taken in evenly avoiding the fabric twisting to one side or the other.

Sew happy, sew well.

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