Types of jeans
Over the decades of its existence, denim fabric has changed, and currently has several varieties. Jean is a classic look, perhaps the most budget-friendly option for lightweight fabric, which may include polyester or viscose.
The density of the material is small, it stretches well, but after washing the cotton shrinks. Denim is quite durable, resistant to mechanical stress and abrasion, and is valued for its high quality and wear resistance.
Products of the stretch variety stretch well without fear of excessive shrinkage, and broken twill holds its shape well and is practically not deformed.
Using a waist stretcher
Expander-spacer for increasing the belt. How to use:
- Soak buttoned stretch pants in hot water.
- Insert the extender.
- Using the lever, gradually expand the device.
- Secure it to the maximum.
- Let dry.
The expander works well to stretch out skinny jeans. Flaws:
- after each wash, the procedure must be repeated;
- there is a risk of tearing the item;
- Not suitable for increasing length, fullness in the legs.
Jeans are tight in the hips
The most common way to increase the size is to dry a damp product in natural conditions, while wearing it on yourself, at room temperature.
There are 2 options for drying jeans on yourself:
- Wet the product and put it on.
- Put on a dry item and then wet it, for example, take a shower in clothes.
The wet fabric stretches and shrinks to your figure during the drying process.
But wet clothes are unpleasant to wear, and the knees of completely wet jeans will also stretch out. It is not at all necessary to wet all the clothes - just applying it to the problem areas is enough. The liquid can be poured into a spray bottle and periodically moisten the fabric in those places where the clothes are tight.
What to do to prevent jeans from shrinking
It’s unpleasant when a new, carefully selected item to fit your figure shrinks after washing. Especially if it was quite tight and after drying it stops fitting completely.
To prevent this from happening, follow a few simple rules:
- Before washing, pay attention to the labeling of the product - it indicates the recommended temperature and method of cleaning the item.
- To make denim trousers stretch and fit better , purchase models with the addition of artificial threads - they are less susceptible to shrinkage and stretch easily.
- Use mild detergents designed for colored items.
- When washing jeans, try not to set the temperature to more than 40 degrees - the likelihood of shrinkage will be lower.
- It is not recommended to dry trousers in direct sunlight or in a dryer - try to avoid high temperatures.
- Avoid drying out your pants.
How to widen a jeans waistband
The wet material also stretches around the waist. To do this, you need to unfasten the button, carefully lay the product, for example, on the floor and use a spray bottle to spray warm water onto the tight area.
- You need to moisten it generously, the fabric should get wet through. Then you should step on the side part (in the pocket area) with your foot, and pull the opposite side of the belt with your hands, applying some force, but so as not to tear off the fittings.
- To expand the belt, you can take a bath while wearing a tight product. But first prepare a place for drying - spread a towel or oilcloth on the floor. The bath should be filled with warm water, it should be taken for about 15 minutes, periodically gently stretching the material around the waist.
- Drain the water and sit in the bath for a while to let most of the water drain out. To speed up the process, you can stand up, move around, and do a few squats.
- Then go to a towel spread on the floor, do some exercises (squats, swinging your legs to the sides, forward and backward), gradually stretching the clothes until they dry on your body.
For final drying, jeans can be removed, but not dried on heating devices or in the sun.
Movement as a way to adjust jeans to your figure
If the trousers are fatally small, they should be exchanged, put aside until better times, or given to a younger sister. As a last resort, go to the atelier, where the product will be carefully unraveled along the side seam, and then returned to its original form, slightly expanded. This decision is justified if the item fits too tightly in both the hips and calves - that is, along the entire length. If absolutely necessary, you can insert small wedges - it is possible that this will give the trousers a special decorative effect.
But it also happens that just a couple of millimeters are missing from the perfect fit. In other words, new or just washed jeans fit “creaky”, but you can still put them on with a little effort. In this case, there is nothing to worry about at all - any denim fabric stretches slightly in width under mechanical stress. This means that you need to squeeze your body into your trousers, button them as you exhale (it’s best to perform this feat lying down - it’s easier to suck in your stomach), and then get up and start moving as energetically as possible.
It is important to listen to your feelings and respond appropriately to them. Do your pants squeeze your buttocks? In this case, bending towards the floor will help stretch your jeans. Too tight in the hips or knees? Start squatting or lunging with your legs, sway, spring - and meanwhile the denim will stretch to the desired size. Literally ten minutes later, when you take a break to rest, you will feel that there is no more pressure or pressure anywhere!
Using an iron
If after washing your jeans have shrunk and are uncomfortable to walk in, you can stretch the material using an iron set to steam mode.
The fabric will expand under the influence of hot steam, and to consolidate the result, you need to put on a still warm thing and walk around the apartment for a while, doing squats and other stretching exercises.
If for some reason the iron is missing, then it can be successfully replaced with a water bath, for which you need to bring water to a boil in a wide saucepan and hold the trousers over the steam.
How to spread it out with exercises
This method will help stretch stretch jeans on the waist and hips. Instructions:
- Wear stretch jeans.
- Do exercises: splits, squats, bends, “bicycle” in the air.
- Stop when the trousers fit well and fasten easily.
This method is one of the simplest. It will only help if the item is only 0.5-1 size small and is made of elastic fabric. The procedure will have to be repeated after each wash. It is not recommended to stretch trousers with holes or abrasions through exercises.
Special extenders
Manufacturers produce special devices designed to stretch clothes.
The trousers need to be fastened, moistened in the problem area (waist, hips), insert the expander inside and, using a screw mechanism, gradually increase the distance of the device to obtain the required size of the item. The product can be worn after it has completely dried; if necessary, the procedure can be repeated.
Increasing the size of individual sections of jeans
How to increase the width of trousers at the hips
Pants made from very thick fabric sometimes have difficulty stretching. In this case, you can use a special cream that is used in shoe shops to stretch tight shoes.
The cream must be rubbed into the seams in the hip area, then place tightly rolled sofa cushions or towels rolled into the legs of the pants and wait 2-3 hours for the material to stretch.
In this case, you should not wear trousers to protect your body from allergic reactions to the stretcher.
What to do if jeans press in your calves
To stretch your trousers in your calves, you don’t have to put them on wet either. Wet the jeans in problem areas and insert plastic bottles of water into them (choose bottles of such a size that the pant legs fit very tightly on them). After drying, the trouser legs should become a little wider.
How to stretch a belt
If you do not have a special expander, then the trouser waistband can be stretched as follows:
- Take your measurements (from the place where the waistband of your jeans is located).
- Divide the resulting number by two and ask someone to cut a board of that length.
- Dip the top part of the jeans into water, then take it out, pat dry with a towel and insert a board into the waistband. Fasten the button and zipper and wait for the trousers to dry.
How to stretch pants
Another situation is when, after washing, the pants have become too long and you need to bring them back to their previous form. First of all, in this case, wet the item with warm water, to which you can add rinse aid to increase the elasticity of the fabric. After removing the product from the water, squeeze it out slightly (do not twist it too hard!).
You can lengthen trousers in any way that ensures vertical stretching of the fabric. You can step on the bottom of each leg and pull it up. Or act together, simulating a tug-of-war.
Another way is to iron wet trousers, dried enough so that water does not drip from them. To do this, lay the product on a flat, hard surface and lay gauze on top. Stretching the material in the desired direction, carefully iron it over the gauze.
How to widen pants at home
If the jeans do not stretch over the body, then they can be put on while lying down - in a horizontal position, the stomach falls in and the process is easier.
To enhance the stretching effect, you can first put on thick tights, and only then pull on the trousers. They wear out gradually, so walk around the house, do your usual activities or do physical exercise. It will be better if you periodically moisten problem areas with warm water from a spray bottle.
- A very good method of steaming is when the damp fabric is ironed or the effect occurs in the steaming mode, and then the still warm product is worn on oneself, preferably until it dries completely.
- If you do not have a special expander, then you can use any available means - you can insert a strong board or hanger into your trousers, they can be pulled over the back of a chair or a suitable box or canister.
- To stretch the product in length, it must be wetted with hot water, and then tightly wound around a cylindrical vessel (bucket, jar) and left taut until completely dry.
Attention! To increase your pant size, you don't have to wet them or take a bath in them. It is enough to take a textile product (scarf, towel), moisten it, put it on your waist while wet (wrap it), and put on trousers on top, walk in them until completely dry, move, bend over and squat.
Video: Why are skinny jeans harmful?
- You should not wash denim items in hot water, as this will cause them to shrink even faster.
- put on warm, preferably thick woolen tights, and then by hook or by crook, lie or jump, pull on your jeans. Managed? Now, try to exercise a little, let’s say, do your morning exercise routine 2-3 times. Usually, after this procedure, you will achieve the expected result, but if not, then a radical method;
- If you didn’t miss labor lessons at school, use a blade or a sharp knife to open the side seams and resew the trousers, adding inserts from old denim if necessary. As a last resort, take it to the studio.
You can put on almost dry jeans and walk around a little, they will quickly stretch. There is no need to sit down in wet jeans, as your knees can stretch.
I think they will stretch on their own, these are jeans. Just walk as usual, gradually the jeans will accept quot;yourquot; form. The previous tip is also good. But next time, choose jeans that have at least a minimal percentage of elastin, then they will wear out faster and fit better.
Take one and a half bottles, fill them with water and put jeans on them. Before doing this, it is better to wet the jeans - this way they will stretch faster.
You can also steam wet jeans well with an iron, then they will also stretch a little.
If jeans are tight in the legs, then this is certainly not comfortable and is harmful to health, because tight jeans squeeze blood vessels, thereby disrupting blood circulation and lymphatic movement in the tissues of the body. One option is to sew on cute stripes (strips from old jeans, narrow embroidery, etc.). You can try, of course, to stretch it. To do this, you need to wet the jeans in tight places and pull them wet onto plastic bottles. First fill the bottles with hot water. The volume of the bottle should be larger than the volume of your lower leg. To do this, you can take, for example, two-liter plastic bottles.
If the jeans are new, then they can only be made softer, and if they are already a bit old, then probably just make them really striped. A friend of mine bought some very tough American jeans, as she says they are real. And in order to grind them until soft, he soaked them, and then wrung them out in the washing machine several times. I turned on a special spin mode, it lasts 10 minutes. He says softer than steel.
An interesting and painful question that concerns mainly many representatives of the fair sex.
To be honest, I wouldn’t recommend stretching or wearing skinny jeans at all, or at least limiting their use to once a week - no more. After all, lovers of tight trousers have a huge number of health problems! There are also troubles associated with nerve endings (frequent tingling and burning in the legs and thighs, irritation of the vaginal area leading to yeast infections, constant back pain, hypoxia - causing fainting, etc.).
If all of the above does not stop you from wearing precisely these denim trousers, please, here are a couple of tips for you on how to ease your suffering at least a little by stretching these clothes in your calves, or rather, the cotton fabric from which they are made.
Now think, does beauty really require SUCH sacrifices?
Just try to wet them and put on your wet jeans, even if it takes effort. Then you will need to do several squats and different bends - both down and in different directions.
If this option does not help, then try using foam that is sold for stretching shoes. Use the foam on dry jeans. Wet the calf area of the jeans with it and put them on, and additionally spray a thick layer on top of the calf area.
There is also the option of washing them and while they are wet, stuff them in the calf area with something bulky and let them dry in this manner, they will definitely have to stretch.
Many models of denim clothing simply have to fit tightly. And yet, when achieving a perfect fit to the body, it is extremely important not to overdo it - otherwise, a stylish thing can turn into an instrument of sophisticated torture. This happens quite often with denim trousers - in super-tight pants it is difficult to move and even breathe, and both your mood and health suffer from this. So how can you stretch your jeans if you suddenly find yourself too carried away in the pursuit of fashion?
Using extra fabric
This method is suitable for those craftswomen who have a sewing machine and have some skills in working with it.
Step-by-step instruction.
- Choose a suitable fabric that harmonizes in color or, conversely, a different color, bright and rich.
- Take a measuring tape and measure your waist, as well as the waist of your jeans. By simple subtraction, find out the difference between the two numbers, thereby calculating the size of the insert, allowing for a seam allowance of approximately 1-1.5 cm on each edge. The insert will be triangular in shape.
- At the back of the trousers, you need to rip off the belt with the back loop, make a triangular cut of the required size (to “grow” the jeans to the actual waist size).
- The shape of the patch is sometimes completed on a prepared piece of textile, guided by the cutout on the trousers.
- Secure the insert with pins, or better yet, sew it on by hand, taking into account the seam allowances, and try on whether the patch is the right size and whether it will be comfortable with a piece of fabric of this size.
- Sew the seams using a sewing machine, finish the edges with an overlock, zigzag or by hand, and gently iron.
- Sew the waistband and back loop.
After such an insertion, the clothes will be looser, without causing discomfort when worn.
We provide additional length to jeans
In addition to using water treatments, there are three more good ways to lengthen jeans:
- You can throw your pants over the horizontal bar, tie them up and hang on them a little. This method is effective, but you need to be very careful not to fall. The process time is not limited - you can hang as long as you like. For example, until your hands start to hurt.
- Turn your pants inside out. Step on the bottom of your pant legs and slowly pull them up. You should not make very sudden movements, because you can easily tear your pants.
- If you don't want to hang from the horizontal bar, you can sew an extra piece of material onto your jeans. To do this, you will need to find fabric that is the same color as your pants. You need to sew on additional material using a sewing machine.
Important! This method is very simple and, perhaps, one of the most effective. The only downside is that it is quite difficult to find fabric that matches the trousers.
These methods are a lifeline for those whose favorite jeans are too short.
You can sew stripes
Skinny trousers can be expanded by 1-2 sizes using stripes. Such details elegantly solve the problem, performing an additional decorative function.
- You need to try on the product and determine the expected size of the insert.
- Then you should carefully open the side seams and iron them.
- Attach additional fabric (future stripes) to the side seams with pins.
- Try on clothes, adjust the size of the inserts if necessary. It is better to measure 7 times, so carry out a sufficient number of fittings and adjustments until you feel that the size of the stripes is calculated accurately.
- Sew the stripes, finish the edges, iron the product.
Stripes can be made from denim of a similar shade, or they can be made from a bright strip of fabric in a contrasting color.
Sometimes, instead of a strip of textile, stripes are made of decorative elastic.
Reducing allowances
Products made from tight fabric can be expanded by reducing the allowances on the side seams.
- Initially turn the product inside out.
- Carefully open the waistband, open the side seams in problem areas, for example, from the hip to the knee, and iron. If you need to widen the product in the hip area, then you can leave the belt alone and rip out the inner seams rather than the outer ones.
- Use chalk or a bar of soap to mark a new stitch, reducing the hem of the side seams to make the garment looser.
- Sew new seams along the marked line.
The finished product should be ironed, paying special attention to new seams.
To prevent your favorite jeans from shrinking, you need to wash them correctly, following the recommendations indicated on the label. If the markings are no longer visible, then simply do not wash the products at temperatures above 40 degrees.
Bleach and regular powders are not recommended; it is better to use special liquid formulations. Compliance with the rules of care and storage, as well as delicate ways to increase the size will help you use your favorite jeans for a long period of time.
Why did my jeans shrink after washing?
Jeans are a piece of clothing whose main component is thick cotton fabric. It is recommended to wash denim items at a temperature of 30-40 degrees with powder or gel for colored laundry.
Denim fabric is pleasant to the body, warms well during temperature changes and allows air to pass through, allowing the skin to breathe. For all its advantages, it tends to shrink if not washed correctly.
The reason for a shrinking item may be too high a temperature or an intensive washing program, due to which the fibers of the fabric change their structure, and you end up with jeans that do not meet at the waist and hips.