I hope you are saving away weekly without my postings. It has been a very busy summer and with the summer whining down, I hope to keep up with the blogs.
Recently, I had a request from a reader requesting if I could write a post about hemming jeans. Sending your jeans to a professional can be costly but if you can do it yourself with a little patience, you can save yourself anywhere from 10$ to 20$ per pair!!
If you have been able to buy a pair of jeans off the rack and having no alterations, you are very fortunate. For most of us who are not as lucky, alterations are a must. When buying jeans, always consider fabric thickness especially if you are planning to hem the bottom.
If you own a sewing machine, it will speed up the process. Hand hemming may take longer especially with denim but works. Best to find a friend who owns a sewing machine and have them stitch it up for you.
I will show you 2 versions to hemming a pair of jeans: with pins or hand basting (Note the RED thread)
Figure out the inseam or length you want to shorten your jeans to. If you are unsure about the length, use an existing pair of jeans you would like the length to be. If you measure the jeans from the crotch to the length, that is your inseam length.
In this post, the jeans that I will be hemming a finish length of 26 inches.
Cut one of the pant bottom. You can always throw the cut piece on top of the uncut bottom to measure again or to mark. Now cut the other leg pant bottom.
Turn under 1 inch of the raw hem and pin to secure. or
I like to machine or hand baste with a different color thread on the finish hem line (which would be at the 26 inch line to avoid sharp pins
Press the seams to form a clean creased hem.
Remove the pins
Fold the 1 inch hem under to the creased hem (this will give you an 1/2 inch clean seam)Pin the hem and give it a good press with the iron or crease it with your finger nail.
or
I like to fold the 1/2 inch seam under to the basted 1 inch and hand baste it down.
With the jean's turned on the right side. Thread your sewing machine with either matching thread or orange thread. Don't forget to change your sewing machine needle to a denim or heavier needle to avoid breakage.Start stitching from the inner or side seams ( these are the thickest seams, go over the seams very carefully by hand wheeling the stitches). Sew very close to topstitch the seams for both legs.
or
Sew the hem by slip stitching thru all the fabric with same color thread. Make sure the stitching on the finished side (front) are invisible.
Remove the pins and basting threads. Clip the threads. Give the hems a quick press Tada! Your jeans are ready to GO!
Note: When buying skinny jeans, always check for possibilities of hemming issues. Sometimes, its just impossible to hem with the skinny tight diameter of the hem by machine.
Practice makes perfect!
