Jeans a little too long? No problem. Hem your own jeans for the perfect fit.
This guide will show you how to hem or shorten your jeans while keeping the original hem or cuff, and includes instructions on how to restore the original length at the end, which is perfect for growing kids.
You'll need a sewing machine and some thread that matches the color of your jeans. You'll want to put a heavy-duty or denim needle in your sewing machine before you get started.
Don't know how to use a sewing machine? No sweat. This guide only requires a simple straight stitch—and we've got a guide for that. Check out our Basic Sewing section for more information.
While wearing your jeans, have a friend help you fold the cuffs of each pant leg to your desired length.
Have your friend safety pin the folded cuff to the pant leg to hold the fold in place.
Be careful that your friend only catches the fabric and doesn't stab you with a pin in the process.
Using safety pins as opposed to straight pins allows you to change out of the jeans without getting stabbed by a pin.
You only need to do one pant leg, as you will measure to make them even. If you have legs that are slightly different lengths, you can do this on both sides.
Add an inch to the measurement you took, and use tailor's chalk to mark this new measurement as a second line one inch above the first line you made.
We need to double the hem length, so we'll be adding one inch to our measurement since a standard jean hem is half an inch. If you have a different size hem, simply add double the hem length to your measurement.
Insert the pant leg into the sewing machine, sliding the cuff around the arm of the sewing machine.
You may want to remove the table on your sewing machine to make it easier to get around the arm.
Make sure the pant leg is around the arm of the sewing machine so that you don't sew the pant leg shut. There should only be the two layers of the fold between the presser foot and the sewing machine arm.
When you come back to where you started sewing, continue sewing, overlapping the first few stitches.
In this photo we've sewn slightly off of the edge of the hem for visibility. When you sew your jeans, you will want to sew as close to that edge as possible.
Unfold the jeans, tucking the fold you just sewed inside the pant leg.
Insert the pant leg back into the sewing machine, right-side out, around the arm of the machine.
Make sure the pant leg is around the arm of the sewing machine, so that you don't sew the pant leg shut. There should only be the two layers of the fold between the presser foot and the sewing machine arm.
Align the presser foot along the edge of the side seam of the pants.
Remove the pant leg from the sewing machine and clip any threads.
Repeat Steps 13-16 of this guide, sewing the side seam on the other side of the pants.
You can trim the excess fabric of the fold on the inside of the pants if you want, or you can leave it folded inside the jeans. If you leave it, you can always remove the stitching to restore the original length to the jeans, which can be useful for growing kids.
Repeat Steps 2-16 of this guide for the other pant leg of your jeans.