Easy Hem On Jeans

I'm now in love with Gap jeans. Over the weekend I was given a pair in my size and am very happy with the comfort and fit. So, I decided to purchase another pair at the store and when I saw the price on the tag, $50, I went on a hunt to the second hand stores in my area. Several stores later I found them, $15, but this pair needed to be hemmed. I hate to hem jeans! But, being on the "somewhat short" side I've had to hem many a pair. But, I didn't like cutting off the original hem as it was hard to duplicate it to the original look. This time I googled "how to hem jeans," and found a youtube video telling me how. I tried it and it worked great, no cutting and trying to match the top stitch thread, keeping the original hem.

Here's what you do. Put on the shoes you would normally wear with your jeans and turn a cuff on the outside of the jean at the desired length, then pin in place. It's nice to have someone pin in place for you. Remove jeans and then measure cuff including the original hem. Let's say it measures 2 inches, divide that in half and repin it, but don't include the original hem in the measurement. So, you would be turning up the cuff 1 inch. Since my sewing machine was at my daughters, I stitched by hand right below the ledge of the original hem where my red pin is, using a dark blue thread. Make sure you don't stitch on the original hem, but as close to it as you can. Then turn it right side out and iron it flat. With a machine it could be done very quickly, but by hand it took me about 20 minutes per leg. I was careful to make small stitches. I am very pleased with the results and you can't tell they were hemmed.

This new method takes the pain out of hemming!