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DIY: Hem Your Jeans Like A Pro

I actually learned this technique while working at a denim retailer. It is the absolute best way to hem your jeans without losing the detail of the bottom hem.

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BEFORE ALTERING:

BOTTOM OPENINGS: When altering a pair of jeans you always want to consider the bottom opening. Straight leg denim is the easiest because you don’t alter the bottom opening much as you take off the length. A flare-leg, for example, would become a smaller opening as you took off length and a skinny-jean may become wider at the hem if taken up in length. It’s important to look at this before altering!

SHRINKING: If possible it may be best to wash your denim first. Even if you don’t dry them (which I wouldn’t recommend) they may still shrink up a bit in length. Definitely try this before altering so you don’t make them too short!

Here is a quick tutorial on the technique I use.

Hemming Tutorial:

The jeans I am altering are for a little boy and he needed quite a bit taken off the bottoms. This was a straight-leg style so it didn’t alter the bottom opening much.

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I pinned them up while he was wearing them and left myself a small seam allowance. I moved the pin (so it would be on the exterior) and unfolded the jeans (as shown below).

This spot marks the desired length:

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Now fold the hem up to the pin mark (I aligned the seam of the hem with the pin mark – overlapping it a bit)

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I pinned and measured all the way around the leg to ensure an even hem.  Then, sew just along the inside of the original hem as closely as possible. (I offset my needle to the left to get closer).

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Here you can see my new seam just below the original:

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Once it’s folded down, it will look like the original hem:

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Next step is to cut off the excess fabric below the seam. It will look like this on the backside:

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And look finished with an original hem on this side:

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No one would ever know they were hemmed!
I hope you found this tutorial helpful!

Have you ever tried this technique before?

Thanks for stopping by!

-Lauren

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Comments

    • laurenrustichoney says

      That’s great to hear, Jo! Thank you for stopping by and leaving your comment! 🙂

      • Joyce says

        This is tip is just fabulous. My family and I are short, and we wear demin. Therefore, many pants have to be shortened. These shortened pants seems to me that they send a message stating these pants did not fit when purchased – were they on the bargain table! I never liked the way the pants looked after being shortened. THANK YOU FOR SHARING!

        • laurenrustichoney says

          Thanks Joyce! Glad you loved this tip! Appreciate your message and thanks for stopping by! 😀

  7. Lois says

    I’m very short and this tip is great. I’m going to hem a new pair right now, won’t take long either!!!! Thanks for sharing!