One of my daughters is so slender that her summer shorts literally would not stay up on her, despite their having a half back elastic.
I took a scrap of 1" elastic and cut it somewhat shorter than the length across the back between the side seams. I turned under the cut edges and sewed them to the side seams. Then I stretched the shorts with the elastic out flat and sewed several short lines through the elastic and the back waistband. I tried to keep them on seams and next to belt loops as much as possible so my "fix" is less obvious.
Not including getting my sewing machine out and putting it away, it took about 10 minutes to do. The result is a pair of shorts that stays up very nicely.
By Katie
This page contains the following solutions.
Toddler's pants keep falling down and they are much too young to wear a belt for safety reasons. My tip is to make what I call elastic clips to hold up their pants.
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
Any suggestions for easy quick ways to fix toddler's pants from being too big in the waist? My 3 yr. old daughter has a small waist. Pants or shorts that otherwise are the right fit are too large at the waist. Many pants slide down or fall right off. Belts are not really an option since most pants for small children don't have belt loops. I've thought about making those elastic bands with alligator clips that women wore in the 90's to sinch in dresses from the back but I'm not sure how to go about making them. Any ideas?
My son has that problem too! I pull in a 1/2 to 1" in waistline in back of pants and sew in a loose seem about 1" long vertically down. You can not tell unless you are looking because it hides in waistline. When he grows I just use a seem ripper and pull out stiches. That way he gets more use out of pants.
You could also sew strips of elastic in each side (sort of like the adjustable waist pants I've seen at WalMart and Mervyn's). Sew in one side and have her try them on, mark where you would want to have them fit, and sew the elastic in on each side.
The main reason for the suggestion of elastic is that it would lightly gather the sides on each side, making it look more natural. I for one would go crazy with a bunch of fabric gather in the back of my pants (or my daughters) and I am so freaky about my kids clothes being nice looking I would do the elastic.
I hope that you find the right suggestion! I know how you feel, my daughter has nearly size 8 legs, but 6/7 waist! My niece is almost 4 1/2 and just got a new pair of capris yesterday, actually they are size 2T pants! She is so tiny in the waist (tiny all around, you wouldn't know it by looking at her parents, they are both tall and big!).
what about suspenders.???
Hi, Clara -- how about going to the DollarTree store and getting some of the clips that are used to make sheets fit more snugly under the corners of a mattress? They are about 4 inches long and have a clip on each end. That would give you 4 different clips to use.
You could also get some cute little suspenders for her.
Nancy in Nokomis
On the back seam of the pants, at the waistband, measure the distance from back side seam to back side seam,subtract 1/2-3/4". Cut a 1/2 to 1" width piece of elastic that measures this distance. Then, at about 1/2" to 1" on both ends of the elastic,sew a botton hole or two set 1/2" a part, if needed. Pull the piece of elastic through the back waistband. Sew a button,the size of the button holes. One at each seam, on the inside of the pants.
As your child grows, you can adjust the size of the waist, by simply pulling the elastic taut or loosening it, and fix the elastic buttonhole over the button. This way, your child should be able to wear these pants, until s/he grows too tall or outgrows the pants. No re-cutting or re-sewing involved! Hope this helps!
Amazon sell snap belt for toddlers and alagator clips to go with it. I use them all the time for my 4 year old that has the same problem.
