Ahem, a hem

A few weeks back I was browsing jeans at the thrift store.  I came across a pair of jeans in my size AND they were brand new (still had the tags on and everything).  Score!  Unfortunately, they were made for someone a tad bit taller than 5'5".  I bought them anyway and decided to hem them using a tutorial I saw on the internet.

Too long!

I took off about 3 inches.  I used the tutorials found HERE and HERE.  The pictures below show what the hem looks like close-up.  I decided to take a picture of the hem before I top-stitched and after.  I couldn't decide which I liked more, but ended up top-stitching both hems because it helped the hem lay flat.

TOP: Hem without top-stitching  BOTTOM: Hem with Top-stitching

Since I took off so much, I ended up cutting off the extra material.  I also did a zig-zag stitch to minimize the fraying that will happen after washing.  However, if I used this technique for kids, I'd leave the extra material on so that I could let the hem back out as they got taller.

A look inside

It took me about an hour to do this, but probably would only take 10 minutes now that I know how. Here is the after picture:

Perfect!

Comments

SheilaO said…
Brilliant Marsha! I am always altering Jeans. I love this tip!
Rachel said…
Wow. Once again, I am in awe at your abilities. I hate having jeans altered because the new hem always looks so lame. But these... you'd never know the difference.
Cami said…
Nice work. I'm always looking for ways to hem pants, because as a fellow 5'5" kind of gal, it seems like all the pants out there are either a bit too long or too short.
Laura said…
Somebody taught me how to do this style of hem about a year ago, and I went nuts on all of my pants. Now I have pants that fit!!! I'm 5'3 (on a good day), so I have to hem ALL of my pants. I do it just like you did...
Anonymous said…
Very, very impressive.
The Lymans said…
This short girl thanks you very much for this post. I've just been cutting them off and making my own hem. Yay, now I won't hate jean shopping so much!