Why are modern clothes so boxy? Mini-tutorial

Why are modern clothes so boxy? Mini-tutorial

• 12.04.2010

"Boxy," I think, is the right word.  I can understand when something doesn't fit me, or is the wrong size, but so often I find things, like sweaters, that have no shape at the waist.  Take this sweater from last winter at Gap that I got at Goodwill.

On me it looked hugely loose (just at the waist!), and even in the picture of it flat it looks completely shapeless!!  Look at that, lines straight down from the armpit!

I'm sure you've encountered this before.  This sweater totally fit in the shoulders, arms and length but not in the waist.  How about a mini-tutorial on how to take in a top like this?

I've done a tutorial before on how to take in a sweater, and it applies most to thinner, particularly cotton sweaters.  Here's a little tutorial on another technique that works well on chunkier sweaters!

• Try on the sweater inside out!  Have a pinning-talented friend help or pin it yourself, pinching on both sides and pinning on just one side.  Pin to where you'd like the seam to be.  Here's what it looked like when I took it off after doing this.

• Making sure your sweater is completely flat, and your side seam is actually on the side, machine sew along the path of the pins, taking them out right before you get to them.
• Now for the other side.  Fold the sweater in half and match where your seam is so you take in the same amount in the same places on both sides.  I used a fabric marker to draw along the opposite of the seam.
• Wear and enjoy with more feminine lines!!