Carolyn J. Braden • 3 Minute Read
How to Make Your Clothes Fit Better With a $5 Shirt Cincher
If you are short like me, sometimes you have to get your clothes tailored to fit your body type better or do it yourself. While shortening clothing length is easy with my iron-on hem tape hack or shortening curtains is easy with my faux pleated curtain hack, making clothing fit tighter requires a bit more.
While not everyone is equipped with a sewing machine or an iron, there is a way to make your clothes fit better using this $5 shirt cincher hack.
My cinchers came in large and small
What is a Cincher and Why Do I Need One?
If you like vintage clothing like me or sometimes find sale items that are super close to your size, but may run a bit big, or have lost weight (think: baby weight or making healthier lifestyle changes) but don’t want to buy a whole new wardrobe, you can use a cincher to make them fit better. A cincher comes in many forms, and its purpose is to temporarily pull your clothing in or up to make them fit your body.
My cincher sizes
Where to Buy the Silicone Cincher?
I found my silicone petal shaped waist tightening clip (sometimes what it’s called) or silicone shirt cincher via Temu. With shipping, I got a set of 4 for around $5. If you use my link here and are a new Temu app user, you can get 30% off your first order.
If you don’t shop Temu, you can get a similar silicone set of 5 for around $16 or under via Amazon here. Alternatively, Walmart has a “Cinch It” set, but it was sold out at the time I wrote this. Amazon has the Cinch It brand clips here.
I wore my shirt cincher with a swimsuit for this look
Other Shirt Cinchers
While I love the silicone shirt cinchers, when I was a kid in the 1980’s, I used a cool plastic tee shirt cincher like this one on Amazon. Some other cinchers to consider for various fashion purposes:
My full beach-day look, with the cincher on my swimsuit
My Full Swim Look:
I got my jellies via Temu. Get a similar pair here on Amazon.
My dress is via Temu, but Amazon has a similar one here.
Butterfly hair clips are from Temu, but Amazon has them here for under $6.
My tote is the Simply Southern Mini Tote bag and I got it on Amazon.
See my no-sew hem tape hack below or via my YouTube channel @carolynjbraden:
My shirt cincher makes my basic tee more fitted
To Use: Shirt/Dress Tightening + Skirt Shortening
I used mine 2 ways, but have thought of other ways too and have listed them below.
The first way I used mine is to tighten a tee. I put it under my billowy tee in the front lower section. I then pushed the shirt through the front, into the silicone clip until it was cinched enough for me. I moved it around to adjust, and then it held my tee in place all day. It looked like a puckered with purpose tee, giving a plain white tee (I love these from Target and buy them in bulk, as I consider them a “life staple”) a little extra style.
A no-sew tailored shirt!
You could also put it in the back if you didn’t want the ruching look in the front. You could also use this to close a dress that opens too much in the front or a use it to pull a dress tighter in the back. I also thought to use the smaller cinchers to shorten sleeve lengths too.
These work on swimsuits too!
The second way I used it was to make my cute pink bathing suit skirt that looked a little too big on me/was slightly too long (I’m 5’1” and have to order mediums in swimsuits due to needing a larger top size for my chest) a bit shorter.
My cinchers are waterproof too!
I put it under the skirt on the side, pushed the material through the front, through the cincher, adjusted it in the back and then my skirt was a little shorter! It’s also silicone, so it can be worn in the water. It held my swimsuit skirt all day at the beach and added a bit of cute “leggy-ness” to one side of my skirt.
My full look is waterproof!
You could use this skirt shortening method on long dress skirts too. Sometimes I only need about an inch off of a dress or skirt, and this cincher pulls it up on a side or through the back and can help shorten a tiny bit.
Have more creative ways to use a cincher? Tell me in the comments below!
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Carolyn J. Braden is the owner of Carolyn’s Blooming Creations is a regular contributor and editor for CBC. She has been featured in numerous media publications such as InStyle Magazine, on HGTV, on Bustle.com, and more. She is the author of the books Georgia McMasters in Amethyst Lake Cemetery, How To Be Yourself: 3 Ways To Help You Being You, and the illustrator for the children’s book Bridging Connections. She is a former classroom teacher that now dedicates her life to educating others on how to live their most healthy, creative and happy life. Learn more about her visiting our About Us page.