Add an Extra Button to Your Jeans for the Best Fit

As someone with large hips and a much smaller waist, I've always got the dreaded "gap at the back of the waist" issue with jeans. Larger hips also mean that my jeans stretch out quicker, which leads to them sliding down a couple days after they've been washed.

Belts only make the gaping at the back of my jeans worse and I find them pretty uncomfortable, so I wanted a different solution.

While brainstorming, I remembered a product I bought a few years ago from Bristols 6 called the Adjust-A-Button and knew I wanted something like that again. They were really handy, but they'd only last a few months before they'd get bent and start falling off.

This solution is cheaper and solves all sorts of issues:

second and third wear jean stretch
expanding the waist line to deal with weight gain
bringing jeans in when you lose weight and you're in-between sizes
correcting/lessening waist gaps

Step 1: What You'll Need:

a pair of jeans
a hammer
a set of no-sew tack style jean buttons

You'll want to make sure you've got a new button that matches the size of the original one - sizes vary just a bit!

Step 2: Placing the New Button

Make sure you do this step with worn jeans - freshly washed and shrunk jeans will give you the wrong result.

I put on my jeans and pulled the buttonhole past the first button and to a place where the jeans fit nice and snug. Once I knew where I needed to put the new button, I marked it. (place the button closer to the edge of the waistband if you want to expand!)

Now you'll want to push the back of the button through to the front of the waistband.

Step 3: Installing the New Button

Place the button face down on a rigid surface. (I'm using an old cutting board so I don't damage my tabletop.)

Insert the back of the button into the front and bring the hammer down on it until it's well seated. This might take a few swings. Test the button by pulling on the front of it - if there's any wiggle or a gap between the button and the fabric, hammer again.

Step 4: And You're Done!

Rejoice in not having to buy a new pair of jeans/use a belt/staying comfortable. :D

The only downside (and it's very slight!) is that the fly of your jeans will be skewed to the left or right a little. But it's much better than having a line from a belt, I think!

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14 Comments

b1tbang3r

8 years ago on Introduction

Thanksgiving pants anyone??

fuzzylumpkin1

9 years ago

PS- I'm naturally skinny and eat about 1 gallon of ice cream a night. For some reason I just don't gain weight easily.

fuzzylumpkin1

9 years ago

Thank you so much for making this instructable! You don't know how much it means to me. Unfortunately I'm freakishly skinny and people at my school think I'm anorexic. To make matters worse i have super long legs so that makes shopping for pants very hard. I celebrate finding a pair of jeans that fit right and look nice on me. Now that I found this my life will be 1000 times easier! ;-)

Jollyshi

9 years ago on Introduction

I have the same problem... and now I have a solution! Thank you! I can't wait to try this out.

baltika

9 years ago on Introduction

I'd like to try this and I hope it works for me. I'm male and have found that pulling a belt too tight to compensate for jeans which are too loose results in back pain. I also like the no-sew approach to adding the extra fastener.

jlackey1

9 years ago

I really like this as I have the same problem. I cut slits on the inside of the back band and insert elastic, pull it until I get the fit I want and then stitch it down by hand or machine. Thanks

jbarziza

9 years ago on Introduction

I like this. I can now buy a pair of jeans a tad larger than me, and make them fit. You have great ideas. I still remember your instructable on keeping celery fresh, and actually started buying celery again because of it. https://www.instructables.com/id/keep-celery-fresh-for-weeks/ Keep up the good work.