Tuesday, May 17, 2011

hemming jeans while keeping the original hem

do you ever buy jeans that need hemmed, but don't want to lose the original hem?  you know, the factory finish... so that they don't look like they are "home hemmmed"?  well, I have tried a few different ways.  here is one way, that yes, is fabulous --link to hemming tutorial--, but what happens when you have 3-4 inches of that "left over hang" inside of your pant leg??  if I cut it off I have fray to worry about.  and what if I want to roll up my pants? I can't do it if I hem them this way.  so, when I was asked to hem 3 pair of jeans in a new way I was a bit hesitant, but excited to learn something new.

here's how I did it:

measure the length that you need the inseam to be.  
using a straight edge cut the jeans AT THIS EXACT LENGTH.


cut off the excess from the original hem so that you have just a half inch of the "pant leg" extra and the hem.


using a seam ripper remove all the old stitching

open the seam and fold and iron the raw edge in to the hem.  
this is quite easy because the original stitching has created a fold.

you now have a "finished" unfinished hem.


sandwich the original hem back on to the now shortened jeans lining up the side seams, pin in place.


sew the hem back on being careful where the fabric is extra thick to ensure not breaking the needle.  find a matching thread color, and if possible thickness.  my thread was thinner than the original so I sewed over the same area twice to make the stitching more prominent.  I also used a basting, or long, stitch because that is how the original stitching was.


tada! the finished product, good as new!



linking up to tatertots & jello