In this section, we are going to show you four techniques to alter your garments by hand. They will come in handy if you need to make quick changes at the last minute. These are four quick tips that can work in an emergency or you could even leave them in place if you want. These techniques may also be helpful in other circumstances.

Supplies:

Dance garment as required –
Sports bra, Dance shorts, Dance skirt
Thread to match
Straight pins
Safety pins
Scissors
Tailor’s chalk or bar of soap

Directions:

Choosing Your Materials
The materials you choose will depend on what needs to be altered. In our samples, we used a sports bra, dance shorts and a dance skirt and, of course, thread to match the dance garments.

Alter as Required
Let us just start with a few simple alterations.

Sports Bra into Halter Bra - We have a sports bra here and our client wants a halter bra instead. This demonstration will show you how to turn a sports bra into a halter bra.

The first step is turn the sports bra face down on the table and cut the straps at the base of the straps where they meet the back of the sports bra. Try to cut the straps down as close as possible to the back so that there is not a stub above the back of the bra. You now have two loose straps. Take care not to cut the back itself. Have your dancer put the bra on so you can determine how long the straps should be. Take the two straps and bring them up to the base of her neck until they meet each other. Pin the two straps together with safety pins at the nape of her neck. Using safety pins instead of straight pins will keep the dancer from being stuck when the dancer takes her top off. Once she has taken the sports bra off, sew the two straps together. Before you actually start sewing, make sure that the straps are not too tight around the dancer’s neck. Now that the dancer has taken the top off, you can change it to straight pins if you wish. Either way, you want to sew the two straps together using teeny tiny stitches. Keep sewing with these teeny tiny stitches until you get to the other edge. If the sides of the straps do not match up, tug the shorter side until they match up and stitch it down so that they meet. Stitch around the end a couple of times and then tie a knot in the thread to make sure the straps do not come apart if the thread breaks. To be extra careful that the straps do not come apart, repeat this process back and forth across the width of the straps one or two more times. Turn the bra over and open up the straps up and tack the ends of the straps down and then cut the excess of the straps off. You now have a halter bra.

Fixing a hole in a costume – We are going to use a pair of shorts as an example. Let us say there is a hole in this pair of shorts. This particular hole is along the seam. Turn the shorts inside out and starting above the hole, stitch along the seam and then branch out and sew around the hole. In essence, you are going to create a “detour.” Make sure that your stitches are tiny or you may find that your stitches pull out and leave an unsightly seam line. Continue down and slowly bring your stitching to the seam. You do not want the new “seam” to be too obvious. Make sure your new seam line moves out gradually and around the hole and then gradually comes back to the seam line. Turn the shorts right side out again and check to make sure there are no bumps and that the seam is nice and smooth. This is especially important when working with fabrics that stretch. Tie the thread and make sure it is secure and then sew back on top of what you have just sewn and tie it down again. This should make it nice and neat

Shortening a pair of shorts – Using the same pair of shorts, we are going to show you how to shorten a pair of shorts that are too long. Turn the shorts inside out and then turn the hem up to the length you want the shorts to be. Sometimes, it is just a matter of turning the hem up at the seam line. That would make it easy to keep the hem even. If you need it to be shorter, take a little card or piece of paper and use it as a guide. Often, a business card works perfect for this especially since most of the time someone will have one handy. If one of the sides of the card does not work as a guide, then cut it down until it is correct. You do not necessarily have to cut the card in two pieces. Just cut a little notch to indicate the length you need to take out of the shorts. If you do not have any scissors, fold the card to the length you need. Sliding this “guide,” along the present hem of the shorts allows you to turn the hem to the correct length. At this point, use straight pins to keep the length of the shorts consistent. You can then start hemming the shorts. With the shorts still inside out, stitch the new hem all the way around the width of the leg. We suggest you start the hem at one of the side seams. That way it gives the seamstress a good starting place to anchor your thread. With the thread knotted, stitch into the side seam and then place your needle into the shorts where the old hem was and slide the needle down about half an inch or three quarters of an inch and then bring the needle back out. Take a little tiny stitch into the leg and then put the needle back into the old hem and run the needle down about half an inch to three quarters of an inch and bring it back out. Repeat this process all the way around the width of the shorts’ leg. When you get back to your starting point, sew into the side seam that was your starting point. This is a “blind stitch” which means that if you use thread that matches your shorts, all you will see when you turn the leg inside out is a very tiny stitch or maybe just a little pucker on the outside. On the inside of the leg all you will see is a little stitch coming out of the old bottom of the shorts and then another little stitch back inside the old hem. You also want to make sure that the bottom of the shorts is still able to stretch. Turn the leg inside out intermittently when you are sewing the new hem to make sure that everything is okay – to make sure the stitches look good and there are no puckers or anything else that might mess up the look of the hem. Next, do the exact same thing on the other leg.

Fixing a skirt that is just a little too big – In this case, you have a skirt and are ready to perform and the skirt is just a little bit too big. In this scenario, you will end up with a little pleat in the back. Our preferred method is to determine how much the skirt needs to be taken in and measure that amount. Turn the skirt inside out and run a seam down the center of the back waistband. This new seam will run down the center back of the waistband. Again, you want to use teeny, tiny stitches. Make sure that both sides of the seam match at the top and the bottom. Sew this seam once, tie it off and sew it back to your starting point. You want the seam to be snug but not real tight. On the inside of the skirt, fold the excess material so that there is an even amount on each side of the new seam creating a pleat. Pin the sides of the pleat down at the waistband. Adjust the waistband as necessary to make sure that the waistband matches all around and sew the sides of the pleat to the waistband. Make sure that the stitches do not come through the waistband to the front of the skirt. This process will give you a “hidden” inverted pleat.

This method will also work for t-shirts where the neck is too big.