This always happens when I buy new pants. They’re too long and these new yoga pants are no exception. I was a little worried about altering them because my experience with stretch fabric is next to zero. There was that one time when I used lycra for Rusty’s lions mane. But these pants needed to be about three inches shorter if I was ever going to get any use out of them. And let’s face it, when I say use, I mean lounging around my apartment, not working out in a yoga studio.

I folded and pinned the pants so they were the proper length while they were still on me. I changed and then measured the in-seam and the folded part to make sure that the lengths of each pant leg were even. Also, to see how much length, 3 inches, needed to be taken from each leg.

Next, I removed the pins and turned the pants inside out. I then carefully measured and cut 2 inches from each pant leg.

I then folded over ½ inch of fabric and pressed and then another ½ inch and pressed. Then I pinned the folds into place.

Rusty was not impressed by my cutting and ironing skills. I gave him a stretchy collar but he was even less impressed with that.

I placed my pins so they could be quickly and easily removed as I was sewing. I realized that although my machine can use a double needle, I don’t have two spools of thread in the same color. So that option was thrown out and instead I used a stretch stitch function my machine, a triple zig-zag stitch. I definitely had to pull out my user’s manual to make sure I was doing it correctly, very glad I kept it.

I stitched both legs using the edge of the folded fabric as my seam guide. I then pressed the seams.

I have crazy flip-flop tan lines on my feet. :/

I turned the pants right side out, put them on, and enjoyed my shortened yoga pants by watching TV and cuddling with Rusty.