Elastic! Fantastic!!

That title makes me laugh...maybe it's just because I'm tired and need to get to bed earlier!!  (I wrote this last night.)  Ok, so I have gone back and forth about whether or not I wanted to post this, but I'm taking the plunge....


Maybe I'm the only one that has a problem with the gap in the back of my pants.  You know, when they just don't fit right or they fit fine everywhere else, but at the top they're "gapping."  In the past when I've had this issue, I've had my mom fix my pants by taking them in, but I wasn't always happy with the way that turned out.  So, the last time I needed her to fix the lovely "gapage" on a pair of my jeans, she tried something different.  She inserted elastic into the back of them and it worked so.much.better!  


Fast forward to the present and I decided to fix a pair of cargo pants that I have that fit great aside from being too roomy in the waistband.  But, instead of just inserting a single piece of elastic right in the center of the waistband (in back), I tried using two smaller pieces of elastic on either side.  I thought it might be a little easier to hide, and it was.  Although for me it's really not an issue of seeing the "gather" in my waistband because my shirts always cover that part of my jeans/pants.  Lets be honest, I've given birth to two children in the past four years and my midriff baring days are looooong gone ;)


So here are some pictures to show what I did.  I purposefully did not match my thread to my pants so that it would be easier to see what I was talking about in the pictures.  

Here's what I was working with.  And the elastic will be inserted on
either side of the tag you see on the upper left

  

Pinch the inside of the waistband, being careful NOT to cut
through both sides of it

Insert a piece of elastic into the slit and push to the end
of the waistband.  Then pin it down.

Another view of the elastic being inserted.

Sew elastic in place (preferably with a matching thread) where
you pinned the elastic at the end of the waistband.

Pull elastic to preferred "gather" and pin down at the slit/opening.  (sorry it's hard to see.)
Stitch elastic and then do a zigzag stitch to close the slit.

Here is a view of the back of the pants with the slit stitched up.
Repeat for other side.  And then you're done!

Now the pants fit so.much.better!!  I don't have to pull them up every five seconds!  I do wish that my pics were easier to see.  And hopefully these directions are easy enough to understand!