How to easily hem a pair of pants

We all go shopping and find those perfect pair of pants. We love how they fit in the waist and hips, then our eyes are drawn to the bottom and our feet are swimming in the hem. Then we think, ok I will bring them to the tailor or dry cleaners to hem. A month later they are still sitting there in your closet! I will show you how to easily hem a pair of pants or jeans so that you can use your new purchase sooner than later.

Yesterday my daughter, Emma came to me with such a problem. She had bought these fabulous lilac colored denim wide leg jeans. They looked great on her, except they were too long. So of course , Like the toga outfits (Read about that here), she comes to me, so we can make this our next project.

Emma stood on a chair so I would be more eye level with the hem and where she would like it. I fold up one leg and pin. At this point the pants need to come off so we can measure. We determine that we need to hem the pants by reducing 4.5″.

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Steps on how to hem a pair of pants

• Pin hem to desired length (I needed to reduce by 4.5″)
• Once this is determined, pin both legs.
• With a hot iron press at hem
• Turn pant inside out mark 1.5″ with a tape measure from bottom hem
• Cut excess fabric, leave 1.5″
• Fold 1/2″ underneath leave a clean finish of 1″ and iron

Sewing stitch for a finished hem.

Either you have a sewing machine or you don’t. But no worries! We are going to use a hand sewn method using a blind stitch hem.

Method by hand: If you don’t know how to machine sew or just do not want to start taking out a sewing machine a slip stitch is a very effective method in hemming pants. What’s a slip hem? This is a stitch method that is not noticeable on the correct side of the pants. Using a single thread , picking up a thread or two of front of fabric without bringing the needle all the way through. This ensures that the folded hem is sewn securely to the front but no stitches can be seen. LET’S DO A SLIP STITCH HEM TOGETHER

Thread needle with single thread and knot at end.

1. bring thread through seam allowance and sew a few anchor stitches
2. pick up a few threads of fabric with needle at fold line
3. Bring needle through folded hem and sew through
4. Repeat by picking up a few threads at fold hem and bring needle through
5. Repeat by bringing needle though folded hem and sew through
6. These two steps are repeated , giving a zig zag stitch.
7. Anchor your stitch at next side seam and secure.

• Sewing Kit
• Iron

I thought of my mom today. She left behind A sewing kit that I used today. This will now be my go to kit that I will use each time. So there you have it! A quick and easy way to hem a pair of pants that you can do yourself!