Are your jeans too long? Seems to me designers are making jeans for giraffes… not normal women. Don’t get me wrong… I would love to be taller with longer legs… but it’s not going to happen… so I need to shorten my jeans.
My favorite way of hemming jeans is to reuse the existing hem. This way the jeans don’t look home sewn. In fact, with this method, no one will know you hemmed your jeans yourself!
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September 28th, 2009 at 8:35 pm
Jenny ~
would you do a quick video of this?
Thanks,
PJ
February 27th, 2010 at 8:37 pm
Hi!
How do I reuse the existing hem? Why do I have to sew only half of what I have to hem? What do I do with the other half. It says I only have to press it without sewing it? Sorry but I read this several times and I am still confused. Hope to hear from you soon.
Thank you!
February 27th, 2010 at 8:48 pm
What you will do is cuff up your jeans so that the cuff is on the OUTSIDE of the jean leg.
You will end up stitching along the existing seam line of the old bottom hem.
So, if you want to shorten your jeans 3″ and you cuff up the full 3″… you’re really using up 6″ of fabric. Because if you stitch along the old hem with the jeans cuffed up a full 3″, your jeans will be 6″ shorter.
If you still can’t picture it, take your jeans and cuff up your jeans a certain amount. Say 4″. Now measure from the seam line of the bottom hem to the waist. Notice how the length of your jeans is NOT 4″ shorter but 8″ shorter.
So, first fold up your jeans so that you have the length you want. And measure from the bottom folded edge to the stitching line of the pant leg bottom hem. Divide that in half.
Now re-cuff your jeans so that from the bottom folded edge to the stitching line is that new measurement.
Then stitch along the stitching line of the old hem. You can cut off all that folded fabric when you’re done.