How to Taper Jeans

Most women consider jeans to be an essential part of their wardrobe and usually have several pairs. Jeans can be very versatile, depending upon the tops and other accessories you choose to wear with them. Jeans can be dressed up with an elegant blouse or for a more casual look, paired with a T-shirt, tank or halter top. Jeans are available in a variety of leg widths and what is considered fashionable seems to be constantly changing. By learning how to taper your own jeans, you can transform wide-legged baggy jeans into a style that hugs your legs.

Instructions

1

Try on the jeans you wish to taper. Use a pin to mark a spot below your hips on the outside seam where you will begin to taper the legs.

2

Select a pair of jeans you own with tapered legs to use as a pattern.

3

Use a seam ripper. Unpick the stitches of the hems at the bottom cuffs of both legs of the baggy jeans. Unfold the hems.

4

Turn the wider jeans wrong side out and lay on a flat surface. Spread the legs of the jeans apart as far as they can go, without causing folds or puckers near the waistline or on the upper part of the side seams.

5

Turn the snug-fitting jeans on the wrong side out. Lay the tight jeans on top of the wider jeans, aligning the jeans at the crotch and at the zippers. Smooth out the legs on top of the wider jeans. Be careful to keep the legs as far apart as you can, without causing any folds or puckers, as in Step 4. The legs of the tighter jeans should be centered on the legs of the jeans beneath.

6

Use tailor's chalk to draw lines along the outline of the narrower legs onto the baggy jeans. Start at the outside edge of the bottom hem of one of the legs and draw the line up toward the spot marked by the pin in Step 1. Curve the line slightly if needed to meet this spot.

7

Draw another line along the inside seam. Start at the hem edge and draw the line up toward the crotch seam. Remove the tapered pants.

8

Fold the wider pants in half along the back seam. Align the legs. Use pins to mark the line to taper the second leg so it matches the lines drawn on the first leg.

9

Use the sewing machine to stitch along the marked lines on the inner and outer seams of both legs. Cut away excess fabric, leaving a seam allowance of 1/2 inch. Use a zigzag stitch to oversew the cut edges.

10

Turn the pants so the right side is facing you. Use a straight stitch on the machine to top-stitch the outer leg seams. Stitch about 1/4 inch from the seam line, matching where the top stitching is on the jeans on the part of the outer seam above where you tapered.

11

Fold the hemline back along the original fold lines. This will usually be a double fold, about 1/2 inch deep for each fold. Pin in place.

12

Stitch around the circumference of the hem on the machine using a straight stitch. Remove all pins. Cut off any loose threads.

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