Remember when I said I wouldn’t be buying any new clothes for the school year? Well, we’re going to have to call it a short university year! Although I thought I would have more than enough clothing to last me through the year, I didn’t count on both wearing through things and gaining weight.
Not planning on gaining weight? Yeah, rookie mistake, I know. Considering my size has been stable for two years and I am in my mid 30s and had never been able to gain weight when I tried, I just didn’t think I could. I have slowly (and happily) crept up the scales since going gluten and dairy free last summer and imagine that I am now around the weight I would have been ages ago had my body been able to absorb the nutrients I was shoveling into it. My formerly loose clothing is now just on the other side of fitting.
One pair of jeans were no longer tolerable to wear as they pinched my thighs (as far as I can tell, there is no internet hack for that!) so I was down to one pair with some stretch in them that grew with me. They’re on their last (two) legs though and I couldn’t wear them all week to work. In looking to replace them, I visited charity shop after charity shop: over 30 visits until I finally found a pair that fits well! For some reason, while I can find jeans that fit me somewhat easily in the US, I can almost never find jeans that accommodate certain curves here. In fact, after about two weeks of wearing my new jeans, I read the label and discovered they were made in the US. I haven’t taken a shot of them, but they’re just a dark wash pair of jeans that I hemmed using this technique.
This skirt now has to sit so high up that the zip digs into my ribs all day. I was going to add a triangle of fabric in the zip area but the insert would have needed to be pretty wide and tall and would have been visible below any shirt. I pondered cutting it, raising it up, and adding elastic to the waist but the shaping is so nice in the lower back area I didn’t want to ruin it for someone else if I end up donating it. So I grabbed this skirt out one evening after work and tried it on. I yanked it off and knew immediately what I would do with it! Since it had a button, I could just make a button panel to add in without damaging the integrity of the design and giving myself a bit more (actual) breathing room. I was really proud of my buttonholing… 
and of the reclaimed comfort factor while knowing the modification will be hidden.
Riotflower's Realm 
[…] garment when needed. My formerly dressy-ish trousers had degraded into acceptably average and the modification to expand a skirt’s waistband only bought me a few extra weeks. On a Friday night alone, I cranked up […]