Hemming Pants
Posted in /Fabric_Projects on Sunday, April 01, 2018
As a short girl from a family of short girls I've been hemming pants for years. My latest pair of jeans fit perfectly everywhere except for the length, which happened to be almost 7 inches too long!
I've had a lot of people who've asked me how to hem and so I thought I'd throw together a quick tutorial.
Step 1
Put your pants on inside out (yes this is weird, but make the process go faster) and fold the pants into your desired hem. If the pants are non-jeans you will likely need someone to help you pin them up, so stand on a stool or a step to make the pinning easier for your hemming assistant.
Carefully remove your inside out pants and iron the desired hem.
Step 2
Move your pants to a cutting board. You can use scissor but I like to use my rotary cutter. Now this is important, do not cut at your ironed edge or your pants will be way to short.
Unfold your the pant hem and place a ruler 2 inches below the ironed edge and cut a straight line. Then repeat with the other pant leg.
Step 3
Go back to the ironing board with your pants and refold the hem to the point where you ironed your pants. Now fold the cut edge into the ironed edge all the way around the pant leg. This should be a 1 inch fold. Now re-iron the your new folded hem to secure it and pin if necessary.
Step 4
Set up your sewing machine. You will want a needle that is fit for the type of material that you are sewing. If you're working with a dress pant almost any needle will work, but if you're sewing denim or something thick you'll need a stronger needle.
You will also want to set your stitch length to larger spaces. Not all sewing machines are digital but everyone of them has a stitch length. Be sure to test your stitch length on some scrap fabric (ideally the cut end of the pant you've just removed.
Step 5
Sew your hem. I like to use a denim thread for my jeans this which is a thicker thread. And on dress pants I use a matching poly/cotton blend thread. You can buy invisible thread for this project, but I really dislike invisible thread. I find it terrible to work with and it is sharp after it is cut.
I stitch one close to the edge of the top fold all the way around and then do a second seam approximately 3-5 millimeters below the first seam.
Step 6
Wear your newly hemmed pants with pride!
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