Skills books › Sewing and Clothing Repairs

How to hem trousers and jeans

Mark the new hem on the wearer, measure twice and cut once. Done well, a hem is invisible and the garment looks as if it was bought at that length.

Shortening trousers

1. Mark the new length on the wearer, on both legs, in the shoes they will wear. Chalk the fold line on the wrong side.
2. Unpick the old hem and press it flat.
3. Allow about 3 to 4 cm below the fold line for the hem. Chalk a cutting line, check both legs again, and cut.
4. Finish the cut edge with a zigzag stitch so that it does not fray.
5. Fold up on the fold line, press and pin.
6. Stitch by hand with a slip stitch or herringbone stitch, or by machine with a blind-hem stitch, catching only one or two threads of the trouser fabric.
7. Press from the wrong side, then lightly from the right side through a cloth.

School trousers: fold, do not cut

A child grows. Fold all the extra fabric up inside as a deep hem, and it can be let down again next year. Parents value this.

Shortening jeans and keeping the original hem

Customers like this method best, because the jeans look unaltered.

1. Mark the new length on the wearer, on both legs.
2. Measure from the bottom of the existing hem up to the new length. This is the amount to remove. Halve it.
3. Fold the hem up on the outside of the leg by that half-amount, and pin it all round with the side seams matching.
4. Using a denim needle and a zip foot, sew all round the leg right against the edge of the original hem.
5. Check the length on both legs.
6. Trim the excess inside to about 1 cm and zigzag the edge.
7. Fold the original hem down and press firmly.

Check before you trim. Once the fabric is cut, there is no going back.

A new jeans hem

1. Cut, leaving 3 cm below the new length.
2. Fold up 1.5 cm, then another 1.5 cm, and press.
3. Topstitch from the right side with jeans thread and a denim needle, using a long stitch of 3 to 3.5 mm.
4. At the thick side seams, hammer the seam flat first, and turn the handwheel by hand.

Skirts and dresses

• Straight hems: as for trousers, with an allowance of 3 to 5 cm.
• Curved and flared hems: use a narrow hem of 1 to 2 cm. A deep hem on a curve ripples.
• Lined skirts: shorten the fabric and the lining separately. The lining should hang 2 to 3 cm shorter.
• Pleated school skirts: it is often neater to take them up at the waistband.

Letting down a hem

1. Unpick the hem and press the fold flat.
2. Reduce the old crease by pressing with steam through a damp cloth dipped in one part white vinegar to two parts water. Test on an inside seam first.
3. If a line still shows, place the new fold just below it, so that the line falls inside the hem.
4. If there is too little fabric left, sew a strip of bias binding to the edge and turn that up as the hem.

Hems on stretch fabrics

A straight stitch across a knit hem snaps when the hem is stretched.

• By hand, use a herringbone stitch that is not too tight.
• By machine, use a twin needle, a narrow zigzag or the machine's stretch stitch.
• Use a ballpoint or stretch needle, and do not pull the fabric as you sew.

This guide is based on Chapter 7 of Sewing and Clothing Repairs, which also covers shortening sleeves.