How to Shorten Your Jeans and Keep the Original Hem
Being 5’4″ tall means I usually need to hem my pants and jeans. I’ve been sewing for years, so hemming regular pants is easy. Jeans? Not so much. The first time I had a pair of jeans professionally shortened, she left the original hem intact which looked amazing. Of course, after I’d washed and dried my spiffy new jeans several times they shrank so they were much too short. I never paid for that again.
I finally decided to learn how to do this myself because they really do look better with the original hem. I googled around and here are what seemed like the simplest directions.
Try on jeans to decide the length you want. I needed to shorten mine by 2″
Now adjust fold to 1/2 the distance you need it shortened by. Do not include the original hem when measuring. I turned mine up 1″, not including the original hem.
Press flat.
Sew around as closely as possible to the original hem, without catching it.
Flip to the inside and iron flat.
Stitch down the seamline, the entire length of what you have turned up, on both sides of the leg.
Topstitch just above the original hem to keep it from rolling up.
Press flat. It’s really simple and the effect is terrific. Some instructions tell you to cut off excess fabric but I didn’t bother because there was so little of it.
I may have made this look difficult but it’s amazingly simple!
If you liked this post, please consider posting it to your Pinterest for future reference.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!
This is dead easy, I do this and don’t even bother using a sewing machine, you only need a few stiches to keep the excess material up, once ironed you can’t really see it’s been done, also a few snips and the jeans are back to their unaltered state which is handy if you want revert to outside turnups, or sell them on.
Good job. I never have to shorten but I also never wear jeans. Lol.
Can you please explain what “Topstitch just above the original hem to keep it from rolling up” means? I understand the part about measuring and sewing as close to the original hem as possible but I have no idea what the second to last one means. I’m not very knowledgeable when it comes to sewing. Thank you!
Look at the top picture and you will see my row of top stitching in blue
I’ve seen this trick before, but you explained it in a way I understand. Thank you. I will try this with my husband’s pants. It’s so annoying when pants are just an inch or half an inch too long. Jean alterations are expensive.
I have the opposite problem. I need jeans with a 34” inseam for flat shoes. I wish the hems on jeans were deep enough to let out. It is hard to find jeans in tall lengths, and ankle pants remind me of the high water pants I had to wear in high school before long inseams were offered at all. In college I often bought my jeans in the men’s department. In my ideal world, women’s pants would come by waist/inseam sizes like men’s do.
That’s an excellent point, Kate.
Some do come in inseam lengths. Others offer tall lengths, and state the inseam length.
Try Old Navy,
You can order Women’s l and xl on American eagle, old navy and Gap. Which are 34 or 35 lengths. I need at least 34 length and easily find them on AmericN Eagle.
Jennifer I really enjoy your posts. You cover every thing that we women encounter. Thank you for all of your interesting posts. I enjoy them each morning.
Thanks for reading Mollie
I love how easy you made it with the pictures! Very nice.
Thank you
I don’t have a sewing machine and don’t always want to go for alterations but I found a brand of jeans that always seem to work for me. I’m only 5’1 so I think these are supposed to be ankle length but fit just right. Articles of Society.
I am now 4’ 11”,😪, petites are even too long at times! Thanks for this tip. I saved it to Pinterest and will use it!