Making jeans tighter - 6 simple tips for sagging trousers

Jeans are only as good as their fit to the legs. Even the best jeans wear out over time, because regular washing and frequent wear put a strain on the fabric. With a few tricks, worn out jeans can be brought back into shape.

Tip 1: Raw denim jeans take time

Most jeans fit perfectly at the time of purchase and only lose their fit later. The raw denim jeans are an exception. These special jeans are neither colored nor treated by the labels. This keeps the material stiff. The idea behind the manufacturer is simple: the raw denim jeans should only adapt to the body when they are worn and then fit perfectly.

The material needs a little time for this to work. If the jeans are washed immediately after purchase, they will lose their shape. In addition, the effect of the adaptable material does not apply. The pants remain stiff and too wide. Raw denim jeans are therefore only washed when they have adopted the ideal fit. After that, the pants keep their ideal fit for a long time and are very comfortable to wear.

Tip 2: Wash at 60 degrees

When worn, worn-out jeans do not wrinkle as nicely. To make the trousers tighter overall, it is best to wash them too hot. To do this, the jeans are turned inside out. Without fabric softener and with a commercially available detergent, it ends up in the washing machine at minimim 60 degrees. The fabric fibers contract due to the high temperature.

»Tip: An alternative to the 60 ° wash cycle is a lap in the dryer. Here, however, the risk is high that the fabric will shrink too much, and the pants will then be too small.

Basically, only pure cotton fabrics are sensitive to heat and regain their shape. Hot washing does not produce the desired effect on stretch jeans. After washing, the jeans can be spun. The shrinking effect is increased by spinning. The combination of warm washing and spinning lets the pants quickly become one size smaller.

Tip 3: Get your ideal shape with the cold

Every pair of jeans loses color when washed. So if the trousers are to provide pleasure for a long time, it is advisable to limit the number of washes. An alternative to hot laundry is, therefore, cold. Cotton fabrics react to temperatures below 0 degrees as they do to too much heat: they contract. The procedure is simple:

1. The jeans are best placed in the freezer or the freezer overnight.
2. The next morning it is carefully removed.
3. At room temperature, the material becomes elastic again within a short time, and the jeans fit perfectly.

After freezing, the trousers do not need to be washed directly. It is important that the cold has enough time to act on the fibers.

Tip 4: Sew stretch jeans tighter

Many of the tips mentioned so far do not help with stretch jeans, as synthetic fibers are sensitive to both heat and cold. In the worst case, the pants are ruined after one use. Even if the stretch component ensures that the jeans fit well longer, they will eventually wear out. To get stretch jeans back into shape, you have to use a needle and thread. There are two ways to sew the pants tighter:

❶ Sew the waistband tighter

If the jeans no longer fit perfectly on the stomach or hips, the waistband can be sewn tighter. The waistband is simply sewn in a small piece. To do this, part of the waistband has to be turned over so that the trousers fit perfectly again. This works best when the jeans are worn. With safety pins, you can first determine how far the waistband has to be sewn in. Then the folded part is fixed with a sturdy thread.

Advantage: If a pair of jeans is only sewn on the waistband, the seam can be easily loosened again later. The pants are then one size larger again.

❷ Sew the pant legs tighter

The legs can also be sewn tighter. Here, however, a sewing machine is required for a clean result. The desired shape is first marked out with pins. The sewing machine is used to create a stable seam along the marked out sides. Then the jeans should first be tried on again. If it fits perfectly, the excess fabric can simply be cut off. Another decorative seam is used for a clean result.

Tip 5: Treatment in the bathtub

One of the oldest tricks for treating worn out jeans is to take a dip in the bathtub. To do this, hot water is poured into the bathtub. The jeans are then placed in the hot water for about 15 minutes and then put on straight away. It is important that the pants are worn until they are completely dry. In this way, it adapts ideally to the body and then sits perfectly. Treatment in the bathtub is gentler than washing at 60 degrees, as the pants are not exposed to the high temperatures for so long.

Tip 6: Shrinking in a saucepan

The last tip can be implemented even faster. In a sufficiently large saucepan, water is brought to the boil with around 100 grams of salt. Then the jeans are placed in boiling water for about 10 minutes. Then the trousers have to be washed out again with clear water. The addition of salt is important because this is the only way to keep the trousers their color. Otherwise, it will fade very quickly from the boiling water.

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