How to hem stretch jeans using a machine. How to hem your own jeans - tricks you didn't know. How to hem shorts

When choosing new jeans, many girls are faced with the problem of the lack of a model in the size chart that suits their height. The fact is that most fashion manufacturers produce jeans designed for at least average height.

Young ladies who have not managed to grow above 160 cm have to either hem their jeans, or roll them up, or (if other parameters allow) buy jeans in the teenage clothing department.

How to hem using a sewing machine?

If you have a sewing machine at home, the task of hemming jeans becomes much easier. In this case, the model of the machine is completely unimportant: both an old mechanical unit and a modern electronic device will do.

In addition to the sewing machine and jeans, you will need:

threads that are as close in tone as possible to the color of the jeans;
a set of sewing pins;
tape measure;
soap or wax crayon;
cutting scissors;
If the sewing machine is new, you will need a special needle for working on denim.

The first thing to do is try on the jeans and take the necessary measurements. It is very inconvenient to do this on yourself, so it is better to ask someone for help.

You need to try on jeans in the shoes with which you will wear them. Ask your assistant to fold the trousers so that they do not reach the floor, a centimeter and a half, and pin the hem with pins. Look carefully at yourself in the mirror: the length of your trouser legs should be the same.

Turn the jeans right side out and roll up the legs by as many centimeters as you did in the previous step. The factory hem does not need to be taken into account. Check that the hem height is the same across the entire width of the legs. Secure the edge with pins, placing them perpendicular to the stroke of the sewing machine foot.

Stitch along the edge of the factory hem. Then do a test fitting of the jeans.

After making sure that the length is correct, repeat the procedure for the second leg. After this, you should trim off the excess fabric, leaving 1.5 cm at the edge.

Now you need to carefully align the factory side seams with the original hem at the bottom, since after cutting the jeans, the stitches could have shifted to the side. This seemingly insignificant nuance can ruin the entire impression of your painstaking work.

Next, you need to process the cut edge with an overlocker. If you do not have such a device at home, this service will be provided to you in any sewing workshop or atelier. The seam can be made with threads of absolutely any color, since in the end it will be hidden from prying eyes.

Turn the trouser legs inside out and secure the overlocked seam with another stitch on the sewing machine. If this is not done, it will bend down and spoil the appearance of the product. Then make a pair of bartacks on the side seams at a height of about 1 cm.

All is ready! Wash the jeans, steam and iron the hem area. If you choose threads that exactly match the color of your trousers, the seams made on the machine will be completely invisible.

Thick jeans

If you are going to hem an insulated model of jeans made of thick denim, you need to act a little differently.

Since the material of the product is quite thick, a regular hem, even if done as carefully as possible, will be conspicuous. Therefore, we need to make the thickness of all seams and allowances as small as possible.

After you have sewn a factory hem to the cut trouser legs, you need to release the allowance on the side seams and press them well in different directions.
In addition, the allowance on the factory hem should be shortened to 3-5 mm, and the allowance on the legs should be overcast by hand.
Then you should tuck the “native” hem, baste or pin the edge with pins and sew another line on the sewing machine.

Thin jeans

Summer jeans made from thin denim will have their own hemming features. Such models are usually sewn from fabric with the addition of elastane, so it tends to stretch. T

a thick hem on lightweight jeans will be very visible, so our task is to make the hem as thin and invisible as possible.

The allowances needed to sew on the factory hem will be hidden inside. To do this as neatly as possible, shorten the hem allowance to 3-5mm.
Flatten the fabric at the seam allowance and press it towards the factory bottom seam.
Now fold the bottom of the jeans along the original fold lines and baste it onto your arms.
Once again, go over the bottom of the legs with a hot iron, trying to smooth out all the hem elements.
Make another seam on the sewing machine at a distance of approximately 1 mm from the factory one.
After this, the bottom of the jeans needs to be steamed and ironed again.

Hemming by hand

Without a sewing machine, it will be more difficult to hem jeans, especially if you are not a very experienced needlewoman.

The main difficulty is to make an even and strong stitch. After all, denim is a fairly dense material that is difficult to process. Therefore, you will need a thicker needle and thread, as well as a thimble.

Now turn the jeans inside out and begin sewing the “native” hem to the cut edge of the product. It is best to sew with the simplest linen seam (also called French). The new seam must be threaded around the edge to prevent the fabric from fraying.

Take an iron and steam the bottom of the trouser legs well on both sides. After this, the junction of the edge of the trouser legs and the factory hem will become almost invisible.

It is much more difficult to hem flared and tapered trousers in this way, because the width of the trouser legs and the cut factory seam will not match. In the first case, you will have to rip the hem along the side seam and remove excess fabric, and in the second case, you will have to widen the bottom using inserts made of the same material.
Details are in the video.

If you don't need to shorten your jeans and just want to update a frayed hem, here's a fun way to do it. For this you will need a long zipper.

You can buy a new one, or you can get rid of unnecessary things.

Divide the zipper into two parts (we don't need a dog).
Trim the frayed hem and place the edge of the fastener against the edge of the jeans and stitch.
Then turn the pants right side out and make another seam a centimeter from the bottom edge. As a result, you will get jeans with an unusual and practical decor.

There is another way to shorten jeans, which is popularly called “bachelor”. It is suitable for those who do not have even minimal skills in handling a needle and thread, and who do not have strict requirements for the aesthetic side of things.

Having determined how many centimeters you need to cut the jeans, you need to tuck the product and carefully iron the fold.
Then we straighten the trousers, turn them a centimeter higher and iron the fold again.
We cut off all excess, and from the wrong side we grease a centimeter of hem with instant glue.
Fold the edge inward, press tightly along the entire width, wait a few minutes.

This is how you can easily shorten jeans without using sewing supplies.

Very often, when buying new jeans, we are faced with the problem of adjusting the length of the trousers. At a minimum, there are 3 known ways to hem jeans yourself. We considered the first processing method. The good thing about this method is that you can easily sew rough denim using a sewing machine.

I like the following method for finishing the bottom of jeans. Everything is done quickly, simply, and there is always a supply of fabric for “unforeseen” circumstances.

Method 1: How to hem jeans with a closed hem seam

As a rule, jeans should be hemmed only after washing, otherwise there is a risk of not guessing with the length of the legs. After we have washed the jeans, dried them and ironed them through a damp cloth, we need to try them on. The fitting must be carried out in the shoes that we plan to wear with jeans.

Ask someone to help you mark the length of the trousers - you need to pin the low legs of the trousers with tailor's pins.

So, we have decided on the length of the jeans, take them off, and mark the hem line of the bottom (i.e., the fold of the fabric) with soap.

We sew the folds on two legs with hand stitches.

Now we try on the jeans again, definitely put on shoes and look in a large mirror. If everything is satisfactory, we remove it and can proceed directly to hemming the bottom of the jeans.

To facilitate further work, slightly iron the folds of the bottom of the trousers through a damp cloth.

Next, turn the jeans inside out and measure 1.5-2 cm upward from the fold - the hem allowance. We draw the first line, parallel to the bottom, with soap. Next, measure another 1-1.5 cm up from this line and draw a second parallel line. This will be the seam allowance.

Cut off the excess fabric along the top (second) line.

Now fold the seam allowance to the wrong side and baste the resulting fold to the jeans.

That's it, 90% of the work is done! All that remains is to lay the finishing stitch along the bottom of the jeans, retreating about 1-2 mm from the fold.

Places that are thickened on the side and crotch seams can be pre-tapped with a heavy object (a wooden hammer as an option), after placing several layers of fabric.

If your jeans have 2 finishing lines, add a second parallel line.

It is better to purchase threads for hemming the bottom of jeans that are specially designed for processing denim. Then the stitches turn out beautiful and the appearance of the stitching will be no worse than the factory one, especially if you match the thread to a tone-on-tone color with the original.

Iron the bottom of the jeans through 2-3 layers of thin cotton fabric.

Method 2: how to hem jeans while maintaining the factory seam

Let's consider another way of hemming jeans, preserving the edge, which is especially fashionable now. This method allows you to preserve the factory processing of the bottom. It consists of carefully tearing off the bottom hem (unraveling the stitching), putting 1 cm upward from the line of the former finishing stitch for the seam allowance, and cutting along this line. The result is a part with the code name “bottom”.

Then they measure the jeans, mark the hem line (fold), but the seam allowance is marked not down, as we have already discussed above, but up. The excess is cut off. As a result, you get two parts for one trouser leg - the jeans themselves (“top”) and the hem (“bottom”).

The details of the bottom and leg of the jeans are folded in pairs with the right sides inward, the side and step cuts are aligned, everything is pinned together and stitched around the leg circle. Attention! We sew the line along the bottom hem along the former finishing line. Iron the seam.

Well, now everything is simple - we put a finishing stitch into the split seam. The processing is similar to, only in the role of the edging we have the cut edge of the jeans.

I tried to schematically sketch this processing:

With this processing method, the bottom of the jeans will look like a “store-bought” one, with a beautiful factory edge. But! I categorically don’t like this method, and I don’t recommend it to you.

Firstly, no matter how hard you try, the extra thickness of the fabric in the hem will make the bottom of the trousers “stand up”. Secondly, if you are new to sewing, you are unlikely to be able to do the first accurate fitting of trousers. And the cost of jeans is considerable. And thirdly, modern denim is so insidious that you can never predict whether it will shrink during wear or not/

And what method of hemming jeans you choose is up to you! Good luck!

First we need to decide how much we will hem. We put on the purchased jeans and make the hem straight to the floor. Where the heel meets the floor is where the correct hem will be. Sometimes people make the mistake of making their pants too short. Thus, when they go out in heels, jeans look ridiculous. So stand in front of the mirror, put on your shoes and look again at how cropped jeans will look.
Using chalk or a bar of soap, draw a line along the fold line. Now cut off all the excess from both legs. Be sure to use 4 cm for margin.
Next you need to baste the cut with needles or simply pin the needles. For sewing we use a special needle for jeans. It should be number 110.
We sit down at the sewing machine. It's time to decide on the threads. In the store you can choose them by color and shade. They must be thick. Take a piece of jeans with you so that the seller can help you choose. Let's start scribbling. Turn the product inside out. Remember that you should always hem your pants from the wrong side. The jeans must be folded first along the first line, and then folded along the second line a second time. You can iron it lightly. Another important point. As a rule, the machine cannot pass through thick areas. In this case, you need to tap them with a hammer or a book, then they will become softer. Sew at the hem.
At the end of the work, smooth out your trousers and let them cool.

How to hem the bottom of jeans while maintaining the seam? Very simple!

Check what length you need to leave. To do this, try on the jeans and pin the size you need. Try on the new item with the shoes you will wear it with.
You need to fold the jeans in half and place them on the ironing board. Place the pins on the fold line. The fold line will be the final length of the pants when finished.
Turn the folded edge right side out. Draw a chalk line where the pins were. Next, at a distance of one centimeter from the first line, draw another line parallel to the first with chalk.
Remove the pins from the wrong side. Cut the pant leg along the second chalk line. And cut off the bottom leg. We do not throw away the cut parts. They will still come in handy.
Let's move on to processing. On the cut parts, draw a chalk line from the fastening stitch. Cut off excess fabric. Undo the fastening stitch on the cut-off parts. Iron it.
Now you need to turn the cutting parts inside out. We combine the sections of the trouser leg with the cut-off parts and pin them perpendicular to the cut.
We iron the ground media. Cut off the excess and rip out the old fastening stitch. We begin to sweep away. Place the stitch to be sewn on the sewing machine. We grind from the side of the cutting piece. Remove the basting stitch.

Many people, when buying jeans in a store, are faced with the problem that the length of the trousers is too long. And in order to solve it, you have to go to the studio and get something new, wasting additional time and money. If you have a sewing machine at home, then you just need to figure out how to shorten jeans at home. This will not be difficult, although even if it is not there, it is quite possible to do it on your own.

Shortening jeans without a sewing machine

This method is incredibly simple and can be done even by those who are hearing such concepts as “stitching” and “sweeping” for the first time.

To properly hem jeans, you need to follow these instructions:

Put on shoes or other footwear that you are going to wear with trousers. Measure the desired length by marking the cut location along the hem of the trousers using a pin or needle. It is worth remembering that the jeans will be even longer by the width of the factory seam.
To make the job easier, turn the pant leg inside out and iron it. This way you can avoid shifting when hemming.
Now turn the pants right side out and simply pull out the original seam from underneath the bottom. That is, everything unnecessary should remain inside, and there will be a hem on the outside, as well as a peeking line. This is what should be carefully hemmed by hand with small stitches.
If you take your time and work carefully and correctly, the seam will be invisible, and no one will ever even think that there is an extra fold of fabric inside.

Important! This method is best used for thin summer fabric, as thick jeans will look heavy.

Shortening jeans while maintaining the frayed edge

In this case, to hem jeans at home, you will have to use a sewing machine, but in this case you will also receive trousers that are exactly suitable for your height, and also without weighing down the fabric at the bottom.

Sequencing:

To begin, mark the line along which you are going to shorten the legs. Then use a ruler to measure the width of the bottom seam with characteristic abrasions, and then set this distance upward from the cutting line. Along this line you will then sew this seam back.
Carry out the same steps with the second leg, making sure that they do not differ in length. Next, remove all excess, then cut off the seam itself at the bottom, leaving an allowance of 10 mm on top.
Now place these pieces face to face. Chip them or sweep them away. Now sew the product on a sewing machine, trying to place the stitch as close as possible to the marks from the factory finishing stitch.
At this point the work should be done to cut the allowances at the cross stitches of the newly placed side and crotch stitches. This will make it possible to reduce the thickness of the hem, preserving the abrasion, and make further work easier. Allowances should be cut out within a couple of millimeters of the lines.

Two ways to shorten jeans

In the future, you can work in two ways depending on the thickness of the trouser fabric.

First way

This option is more suitable for thin fabric:

You can minimize the thickness of the seam allowances hidden inside the sewing by trimming the bottom seam allowance, leaving only 3-5 mm. Next, both edges should be ironed towards the hem, adjusted to the factory lines and basted.
Iron everything thoroughly, use a sewing machine to hem the trousers, trying to get into the traces of the factory stitching. The seam made will be placed 1 mm higher than the finishing joint and will not be conspicuous.
After the basting is removed, you need to iron the material again.

Second way

Unlike the first method, this one can be used for trousers made of thicker fabric:

You should iron the seam allowances in different directions and then trim them, leaving approximately 3-5 mm.
The pant leg allowance must be overcast, the factory hem folded, then basted and stitched.
When using this method, you will be able to see the overcast seam allowance from the inside, but the main thing is that you will be able to preserve the frayed edge, and the bottom of the trousers itself will not “stand up like a stick.”

Video material

Now you know how to shorten jeans at home, and you can easily turn them into shorts or breeches. It’s not difficult to do it yourself, so try it and you’ll definitely succeed!

Recently, fashionable new items have surprised their fans more and more often. Let's take the most common ones, for example. In just a few years, they have transformed from baggy pants to interesting models with a wide variety of styles and colors. Despite the past fashion seasons and no longer popular models, every girl’s wardrobe must have a pair of simple-cut jeans. Such models go well with blouses, tops, cardigans and many other items due to their simplicity and neatness.

Jeans can be added not only to everyday looks, but also to romantic and business ones. The designers took care of women who are constantly on the move and must look good. They prepared for them an image as if the ladies had stepped off the covers of fashion magazines, giving them a choice of classic trousers in dark shades, which harmoniously combine not only with blouses and jackets, but also fit perfectly with other components of a business style. A mandatory attribute of this look are black pumps with low heels along with a medium-sized black patent leather handbag.

If a girl is a fan of the so-called street style, she will like boyfriend jeans, which look as if their owner took the trousers from her boyfriend, or torn and frayed jeans, which have not gone out of fashion for quite a long period of time.

Despite their “aggressive” look, boyfriend jeans go perfectly with sandals and high wedge shoes, with simple sneakers and even pumps.

When choosing an image that includes this model, it is very important to take into account the style and color scheme of the top of the outfit. For example, a voluminous pastel-colored pullover in combination with boyfriend jeans and light-colored sneakers will look quite cute. You can complement this look with a small backpack or shoulder bag.

However, the upcoming fashion season contains completely new and interesting models of jeans, trousers and shorts. What are designers preparing this year?

Fashion trends

As you may have already noticed, jeans have come a long way during their existence in the fashion industry. It is a mistake to think that a girl must wear only dresses and skirts, since jeans are a basic element of any man’s wardrobe. This is far from true.

For quite some time now, fashion designers from all over the world have proven that even in baggy trousers a girl can look not only interesting and feminine, but also very sexy.

However, not every girl can choose and correctly combine all the elements of an image that includes trousers. Let's look into this situation.

In order to choose the most suitable style of jeans, it is necessary to take into account several selection criteria. First of all, you should pay attention to the material of the product. The better and better quality the jeans are, the longer they will last and will not stretch after the first wash. Next, you need to take into account the nuances of the girl’s figure and her preferences.

For short and curvy ladies, it is best to opt for loose, high-waisted jeans, which visually lengthen the silhouette and add harmony and femininity to the image.

For tall young ladies with model parameters, you can choose any model, starting from the simplest options and ending with jeans with turn-ups that have recently entered into fashion trends. This model goes well with a short top and makes its owner a sultry beauty with long and beautiful legs, forcing men to follow the girl with an enthusiastic look.

Don’t lose sight of the baggy, worn-out trousers that have been on the catwalks for several years now. This model is suitable for girls with different body types. The only nuance is the color scheme. For those with curvy figures, dark colors will look more harmonious and natural, while for thin women, light shades will suit them.

Outfits and looks

Every girl should have basic things in her wardrobe for any occasion, be it a romantic date, a business meeting, or a simple trip to the movies with friends. You can find out how and what best to pair jeans with right now.

For a picnic or meeting in a cafe, designers recommend choosing simple, slightly worn jeans that will not hinder movement, and the girl will feel comfortable and cozy.

It is important to note that feeling comfortable in any clothing is the key to a properly chosen look.

For a trip to a cafe, you can combine a voluminous pullover in light colors along with faded jeans with cuffs, which have recently gained wide popularity. This look is perfectly complemented by a leather jacket and high platform ankle boots. As an accessory, designers recommend using a large black bag and small earrings. It is best to pin your hair up in a bun or leave a messy ponytail.

For an upcoming romantic evening, you can pair a translucent blouse with skinny jeans. As a cape, you should take a long cardigan or a light coat. This look goes well with both pumps and high heels. A massive necklace and loose curls look harmonious.

The second look for a romantic meeting can be light boyfriend jeans in a harmonious combination with a bright top and stylish sneakers. After all, if the date does not take place within the city, but, for example, by the sea or lake, the second option will be more suitable.

Business style requires its owner to maintain consistency in colors and a more formal style of trousers. In this case, designers advise paying attention to tight dark high-waist jeans combined with a classic white top. Over the top you can wear either a light jacket or a voluminous cardigan in pastel shades. Shoes should be simpler and more elegant, for example, shoes or sandals with low heels. Never combine business style with ballet flats or high boots. Most often, such a bow looks tasteless and ridiculous.

It is very important to take into account all the nuances when choosing an outfit for a particular occasion. Such nuances include not only the nature of the meeting, but also its location, weather conditions and much more.

Torn

Using ripped jeans, you can create the most incredible and individual looks that will captivate any man. For a girl who prefers a more aggressive style, these trousers will truly come in handy. Most often, ripped jeans are combined with leather jackets, tank tops and voluminous tops.

This model also looks harmonious in combination with high-heeled shoes and a transparent blouse. This image can be used both in everyday life and as a business image, of course, if the dress code complies with this.