How to Make Your Old Jeans Fit Perfectly

Jeans come in all size and shapes. They also come in a variety of fabrics and cotton blends. This is a true and tested method for most jeans made out of denim with 98% Cotton and 2% Spandex blend; It will also work with 100% cotton denim but you may have to repeat the processes. In addition to the fabric content, jeans are all cut differently, even when you buy the same style from the same brand; the fabric content and the number of enzymes in the washes changes the sizing. If that's not enough, once you buy them and depending on how much you wear them and you care for them, the denim changes.

It's a very common issue with denim, especially when you want them to fit you as perfectly as on the day that you bought them. The jeans may have become way too big because the denim has become extremely stretched out, or the cotton content has shrunk down to a mini version of its former self and you can barely fit into them.

We have found that the following fixes work in most cases and are worth trying to rescue your favorite jeans.

My Jeans Have Become Too Stretched

If your jeans have gotten a little too stretched out, just put them in your washing machine set to a standard wash cycle on the hottest setting. Cotton fibers react to hot water by shrinking the fiber as much as possible. Don't use any fabric softener as it coats the cotton fiber and prevents it from shrinking.

After the wash and still hot and wet, place them in your dryer at its hottest setting. The heat constricts the cotton fibers, getting rid of the extra stretching that occurred as a result of wearing them and returning the jeans to its original state.

My Jeans' Waistband Is Too Big

If it's the waistband of your jeans that is too big, then the fix is a little bit more difficult, but still doable. The waistband is usually a double or double folded piece of rigid denim, that may or may not have an extra piece of felt paper inside the fold. The best way to make the waistband fit snuggly is to sew a 6-inch piece of flat elastic into the inside of the waistband on the back.

 

I Need to Stretch My Jeans

This is the easiest way to stretch out a pair of cotton jeans that has shrunk down. Put lukewarm water into a spray bottle, then spray the jeans until they are completely wet, then lay the jeans flat out on the floor as you stretch them. Stand with your feet on each leg of the jeans, bend down and pull and stretch the jeans up while they are wet. Stretch the jeans in any and all directions until you feel that the fiber is loosening up, all the while making sure that the seams are not being stretched to the point of breaking.

Extreme Shrinkage Needs Extreme Measures

If your jeans have shrunk a lot more than you can stretch using the lukewarm water sprayer, then you will need to try this method: Put on the jeans that are too tight, (it's ok if you cannot completely zip it up or close the button), fill your bathtub with warm water, and sit in it until you feel that the cotton has loosened. When you're done and you can zip up the jeans, close the button, and the jeans feel looser, then hang the jeans to dry on a line. Do not put them in the dryer. 

 I hope that these work for you. Remember, old jeans never die, they just fade!