Hi
all,
You’ve
found the perfect pair of jeans but as always, they are 3 miles too
long. I’m going to show you how to fix them so they fit your leg
length perfectly.
Better still, I’ll show you how this technique
will work with any pants or trousers with an original jean-like hem. Like these 511 trousers.
You
will need:
Pair
of jeans or trousers that need turning up
Sewing
machine
Zipper
foot
Thread
to match your jeans/trousers
Tape
measure or ruler
Safety
pins or plastic clips
Iron
and ironing board
Pressing
cloth
Step
1
Stand
up and try on your jeans. With the shoes you usually wear or the
pair you intend to wear with them. This is important as the shoes you
wear will make a difference to the size of the turn up you need.
Turn
up the bottom of each leg so the wrong side of the hem is showing.
Then move it up or down until you are happy with how they sit on the
tops of your shoes. Fiddle with them, turning them up a bit more or
down, until they are the right length.
This
bit is easier with a friend but it’s not impossible to do on your
own. It just takes longer. Place a mirror in front of your feet and
lower legs to help.
When
you are happy with the length, use safety pins or plastic clips to
hold the turn up in place.
Step
2
Sit
down. Do the legs ride up too far? Are you still happy with the turn
up amount? If not, repeat step 1. If you are happy move on to Step 3.
Step
3
Measure
the turn up with your tape measure. Starting at the point where the
hem edge meets the leg, measure to the edge of the turn up.
Don’t
include the actual hem in the measurement. My turn up measures 1.5
inches.
Step
4
Take
the measurement and divide it in half. Up until this point, I’ve
been using inches. Finding half of an inch and a half is way too
taxing for my brain. Fractions are not one of my strong points. I’m
swapping to centimeters (cm).
Conveniently,
1.5 inches equates to 4cm. Now that’s mathematics I can do! Half of
4 would be 2cm.
Whatever
your halved measurement is, adjust the turn up to match.
In my case,
I’ve refolded the turn up to 2cm around the leg. I’ve even
re-adjusted my seam gauge to show the inches. Half of 1.5 inches is three-quarters! Who knew? Well, probably everyone who grew up using inches.
As a child of the 70s I was taught metric in school whilst everyone outside of school used inches. To this day I use a mismatch of both. The 1970s was a decade for confusion. And not just in color choices!
As a child of the 70s I was taught metric in school whilst everyone outside of school used inches. To this day I use a mismatch of both. The 1970s was a decade for confusion. And not just in color choices!
Replace
your safety pins or clips. Keep the seam on the leg and in the turn
up level.
Make
sure you don’t clip both sides of your leg together! You need to be
able to get the jeans on!
Step
5
Change
the foot on your sewing machine to a zipper foot.
Remove the
accessory tray from the machine so you can use the free arm.
Put
the leg of your jeans over the free arm. With the needle as close
to the edge of the hem as you can get, start to sew.
Sew around,
making sure that you keep close to the edge of that original hem.
Depending on the thickness of your seams, you may need to help your
machine get through. Take your foot off the pedal and walk your
machine over the seam bump by turning the hand wheel towards you. Do
this until the seam has cleared the foot.
When
you get back to the starting point. Stitch over your first few
stitches. Secure the stitching by going backwards for no more than
two stitches. This is called back tacking.
You should have a small fold of fabric to the right of your original hem.
Step
6
Turn
the newly stitched hem the right way out. Press with an iron set to
as high a setting as the fabric can take.
If
the fabric is black or navy, use a pressing cloth. Pressing or ironing dark
fabrics on the right side makes them go shiny.
Step
7
On
the inside of the leg you will still have that small fold of fabric.
You
can cut the excess fabric off if you don’t need to allow for
getting taller at a later date. Stitch around the raw edges with a
zigzag stitch to prevent fraying. Make sure to keep the main part of
the leg out of the way!
If
you want to keep the extra fabric, secure it to the seams. This will
stop it catching your feet as you put the jeans on. A useful
option if you’re going to need to turn them back down in the
future.
Using a needle and thread, hand stitch the fold to the inside seam. Only the seam. Don't go through to the right side of the fabric. You just need a couple of stitches to tack the folded section in place.
Make a small knot in the thread and pull through from the seam to the folded section. Do this a couple of times.
Step
8
Enjoy
wearing your altered jeans that now fit you perfectly.
Thanks
for reading. For more sewing tips and tutorials like this one follow
me:
Bye
for now
Olly
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