How to make your jeans a little longer--Tutorial!
You all know I like to make my jeans work a little longer--I hate to throw them away when one thing's wrong. I've done a jeans patching tutorial for those split knees, but I've also made my jeans longer by changing them at the hem. (I've also made jeans into skinny jeans and made jeans into shorts).
I bought these jeans recently and loved them, but they were almost too short. Then I washed them and they shrunk a little, and then they actually were too short. So I employed a fix I've used before, and want to show you a tutorial.
*Disclaimer: this is not a home ec teacher approved method, and may contain techniques the couture sewist would not use*--but it works for me!
- Start by unpicking the hem seam using pointy scissors or a seam ripper.
- Once you get the seam opened up, unroll the whole hem and press it flat.
- You'll probably have little threads hanging off, so cut them off (or do the next step with a serger).
- This is the part I don't think a home ec teacher would like. ;) Zig zag the raw edge, or use bias tape to bind it off if you want to do it right. Or, add a piece of navy cotton to give it a false hem and it even longer.
- Press under the bottom third of the hem.
- Re-do the hem on the bottom 2/3ds and sew a straight seam to hem the jeans. Look, now they're 1-2" longer!
- Done!
A little longer, a little less nerdy! Try it at home =)
(And check out this tutorial to lengthen jeans with a hem facing!)