If you need to hem your trousers and you have even the slightest skill in handling a needle, you don't have to carry them in a tailor shop. You can easily hem the pants yourself. And the master class below will show you how easy it is to do this. You don't even need a sewing machine to do this.
So, I will show you how to hem pants using the example of a child's school pants. As a rule, the jacket stays on in time, but the trousers become short during the school year. Therefore, I always sew my son's school pants in this way. This allows, when the need arises, to lengthen them quickly enough. In the fall, I fold my trousers to the desired length, and hem the entire available stock.
I unpick the old seam. The hem of the trousers has already been processed on the overlock. On the front side, along a ruler with a chalk or a piece of soap, I draw a new fold line.
We do the same with the second half of the trousers. Fold it inside out along the drawn line and fix it with tailor's pins.
It remains to hem. To do this, grab a couple of threads of the main leg fabric with a needle and, continuing to move with the needle, grab the overlock seam of the hem. Then grab a couple of threads and an overlock stitch again. We continue this procedure in a circle.
The processing of the bottom of men's trousers is carried out by sewing a special tape along the bottom of the trousers. This is the only correct way to handle the hem of the pants. A trouser tape or a trouser tape, first of all, protects the fabric of the trousers from abrasion, and secondly, it stiffens the lower part of men's trousers. The braid is not used in women's trousers.
A hem with a stitched tape is sewn with a blind stitch by hand or on a special sewing machine that is used only in the atelier.
Processing the bottom of trousers with adhesive tape (cobweb) is short-lived and after several washes you still have to hem the trousers with threads.
On how to properly hem pants on a sewing machine using a trouser tape.
The master class was performed on a training sample that imitates a trouser leg. Contrasting threads are used for clarity.
The hem of men's trousers should be at least 4 cm, and for children's trousers, 5 - 6 cm can be noted.
The advantage of the trouser tape is that it keeps the fabric in the place of its fold from wiping, and after six months or a year, the hem can be turned off and made smaller (2cm). Having performed such a trouser repair, you can increase the leg length by 3-4 cm, and at the same time extend the period of wearing children's trousers for another season, saving on buying new trousers for your child.
If you have an overlock at home, then, of course, it is best to overcast the cut of the leg fabric. If there is no overlock, then you can use a zigzag stitch, but it is much better to choose an overlock stitch in combination with a special foot, imitating an overlock seam.
It is good if your sewing machine has the ability to detach or fold the work surface (table). Without a table, it is much more convenient to attach a trouser tape along a narrow trouser leg.
A hem line must be drawn, preferably with a thin fabric pencil. Along this line, you need to attach the sealed edge of the trouser tape.
The first line must be laid strictly along the edge of the tape by 0.1 or 0.2. The more precisely you perform this operation, the neater the hem of the trousers will look when finished and ironed.
Going in a circle along the leg, leave a small piece of tape to neatly close the tape cut.
If you do not close the tape cut in this way, the edge of the tape will become frizzy over time.
Without removing the needles from the fabric, turn 90 degrees and sew this section.
You can now start sewing the second stitch along the other edge of the trouser tape. It is no longer necessary to sew it with a minimum offset from the edge (0.1); it does not affect the appearance of the hem.
It is not necessary to thread a trouser tape to the leg, even if you are inexperienced. But it is important to properly tighten the tape while sewing to the leg.
If the tape is not pulled at all, then the fabric of the pant leg will sit down, and then the tape will bulge. If the braid, on the contrary, is pulled unnecessarily, then as a result the hole in the leg will be too tight and it will be very noticeable on the trousers.
Therefore, it is advisable to learn how to pull both fabric and tape at the same time. In this case, you will avoid over-fitting the fabric of the trousers and the tape. However, do not pull too hard, or the needle may break.
Hemming of jeans and hemming of men's trousers is done differently. In addition to stitching the braid, you will also need to sew the hem with a blind hand seam.
Fold the hem inside the leg as shown in the photo.
You now need a sleeve ironing shoe and a steam iron.
Before ironing, make the trouser tape "protrude" 0.1 or 0.2 from the edge of the fabric.
This is what the hem of the trousers will look like after wet heat treatment.
You will need a thin and not long needle, thin and not twisted threads that match the main tone of the pants fabric, and a thimble.
From the side of the leg, try to grab two or three threads of the fabric with the needle point, no more. Otherwise, the thread will be visible on the front of the pants.
But you can safely grab the hem with a needle.
This is what the finished hemming stitch will look like. It is important to note here that the blindstitch thread should not be overtightened. Otherwise, the trace of this seam will be visible on the front of the trousers. It is advisable, while sewing, to tighten the thread only slightly, removing its excess, but leaving some slack in the stitches.
If you managed to hem men's trousers in the same way as in my photo, then the trouser tape, which does not even match the color of the pants fabric, will not be particularly noticeable under the hem. Therefore, in the atelier, black tape is most often used. But you can search in stores for sewing accessories, braid that exactly matches the color of your trousers.
Last but not least, don't use a glue spider web to hem your trousers. It is convenient to use a spider web for temporary fastening of a hem, since the effect of the glue is limited to 2-3 washes. The water will weaken the glue and the hem of the trousers will still have to be manually sewn with a blind seam.
There are several ways to finish the bottom of jeans. In this article, you will learn how to restore the frayed bottom of men's jeans.
Almost every person had cases when the purchased clothes were subject to revision, and they had to go to the studio. For those people who are proficient in sewing skills, such situations are not a problem. Moreover, such craftsmen do not need to spend additional funds and time on a trip to the studio. It can be noted that it is useful to know how to hem pants correctly, because this wardrobe item is the most common type of clothing.
Preparatory stage
Having studied how correctly it will be useful to learn how to perform the preliminary work. These include the following points:
- Make a fitting. The trousers must be worn so that the belt fits exactly to the waist (exception: model on the hips). Tuck the product up at the point of contact with the floor and pin it with pins. At the same time, there should be no creases, folds on the back of the pants, and in front, on the instep of the foot, the pants should be slightly bent.
- Mark the fold line (the place that was pinned). Lay out the product on the table, fold the legs exactly so that the side seams coincide (if necessary, fix the position with needles). Check if the two halves are equal in length, and mark the fold line using a ruler and crayon (or soap). From this level downward, you need to postpone the amount of stock. In order to know how to hem the trousers correctly, the following information will be useful: the size of the allowance depends on the model and is taken for flared trousers no more than 2.5 cm, and for classic products 4 cm will be the best option.
- Cut off excess length. Make bartacks in the side seams and process the bottom on an overlock or machine with a special stitch.
How to hem classic men's trousers?
Let's consider how the product is folded using a special tape. The steps below are carried out after preparatory work. The main points of hemming the bottom of classic trousers can be presented in the following list:
Additional Information
For those who are interested in information on how to hem correctly, we can say that these works are similar to the above information on how to hem the bottom of the product for men. The exception is that in this case it is not necessary to sew on the tape. The rest of the steps also apply to women's products.
For those who do not have an operation such as blind stitching in a sewing machine, it will be useful to learn how to sew pants by hand. This may require a thin and long needle, thread that matches the color of the base material, and pins. At the stage when the product has already been cut to the desired length and the bottom of the legs is processed on an overlock, you need to bend the allowances and secure them with pins. Thread the needle with a single thread (it is better to turn the trousers out). Sew the allowance to the main part, slightly unscrewing it. The stitch is sewn just below the finished edge. The needle should pass between the seam allowance and the leg, grasping a little on each side so that no stitches are visible from the front. The thread should not be too tight. If the fabric of the pants is very thin, it is better to use a bead needle.
With all the richness of the choice of clothing in our time, it is still difficult to find pants of the right length. It is better to choose pants that are longer than necessary - there is no problem to shorten them, but to make long ones out of short ones is already more problematic.
Now in many stores you can immediately be offered to make pants of the desired length, or you can give them to a filing in an atelier, or to a familiar seamstress. I believe that this is a very simple job that even a beginner seamstress who knows how to sew at least a little can do. You don't even have to have a sewing machine for this. As an example, I will tell and show the hemming of women's classic, winter trousers without a braid (the braid is used mainly on men's classic trousers) and add my own tips on hemming trousers.
First you need to try on the trousers with the shoes with which they will most of the time be worn and measure the desired length (pin the excess with pins). For dress pants, the correct length is a closed heel, i.e. the heel remains almost open.
Lay out the trousers on the table and mark the length that should be ready-made with a tailor's chalk. Fold the pants in full length so that four seams (two step and two side) coincide at the bottom, if the arrows on the pants, then they must also match. Align them from above along the waist and combine the grooves and side seams, if the zipper is in front, then it is better to open it. Pull the legs well and evenly. They should match at the bottom, but this is not always the case. Very often in jeans one leg is longer by 0.5 - 0.7 cm. This is due to the fact that the middle seam on the jeans is seamed. And from one half of the trousers more fabric goes to the seam when they are cut the same.
Under the ruler, draw a line parallel to the bottom of the pants along our mark - this line indicates the length of the pants in finished form. From this line down, make another parallel line to the width of the ruler (about 2.5 - 3 cm). The second line is the width of the hem of the bottom of the pants. (see photo) For an adult who has already stopped growing, this is enough. And another tip: the thinner the fabric on the trousers, the less hem of the bottom can be left, up to 1cm. If you are hemming trousers for a teenage child, it is better to make a larger hem (approx. 4 - 4.5 cm) in case the child grows up and the trousers have to be lengthened.
Transfer the line labels to the second leg and draw them under the ruler. Do the same on the other side of the trousers. Cut along the bottom line. I recommend cutting one leg at a time - first the top, then the bottom, due to the thickness of the fabric, so that the bottom does not move.
The best option is to process the bottoms of the pants with an overlock sewing machine, which I did. If you don't have an overlock, you can use the zigzag stitch on your sewing machine.
Then I hem the trousers with one straight stitch of the sewing machine next to or along the overlock line, aligning the bottom of the trousers along the marked line (see photo), for convenience, you can first pin them with tailor's pins, placing them perpendicular to the seam. When you sew on a sewing machine, you can safely sew on pins and the needle of the machine will not break. In my case, the machine line will not be visible from the front side. 
If it is difficult to choose the threads in the color or the machine stitching on the front side of the product will look ugly, then you can sew it by hand from the inside with blind stitches. If the edge is not finished with anything, then make another 1 cm hem and hem by hand with blind stitches, but I do not recommend doing this if the trousers are made of thick fabric - it will look very rough.
After hemming, the bottom of the trousers must be ironed out. I recommend doing this only through a wet ironing pad (cloth, gauze), since now a lot of synthetic threads are added to the fabric and when ironing, the seams of the product can shine, even if the iron has a humidifier and you set the iron thermostat correctly. Pants are ready, wear to health!
Often we are faced with the problem of how to hem pants so as not to spoil a new thing? This is not difficult to do. Following the instructions in this article, you can beautifully hem your trousers on a typewriter, as well as quickly hem your trousers by hand if urgently needed.
Hemming trousers with tape
The most common is to hem the trousers with tape. In this way, trousers made of heavy dense fabric with arrows are well hemmed. For work you will need glue tape or special trouser tape, iron, needles, threads, chalk and scissors. First of all, we outline the length to which we will shorten the pants. The classic length of trousers is the length to the middle of the heel, so they look as harmonious as possible and do not drag along the ground. However, if you have tapered trousers, then the trousers can be shortened a little more, they will not bulge towards the bottom, which will improve the overall appearance. To chart the correct length, grab the pants by the belt and pin both halves of the legs with pins. Check if the leg length is the same. Now that you have decided on the final length of the pants, fold in the right amount of fabric and pin the pant legs along the bottom line. Now you need to sew the fold line, or you can just iron it. Be very careful not to redo it twice!
If everything is in order, proceed to shortening the trousers. Cut off the excess fabric, leaving 3-4 cm for the hem. Glue the marked fold with adhesive tape. The length of the stripes should be equal to the width of the front and back halves of the trousers. You will have 4 stripes in total. Then use an overlock to work the edges of the pants so they don't fall off. If an overlock is not available, zigzag the hem or hem the hem of the trousers. To do this, fold the edge of the leg inward, baste it and sew with a needle with an even stitch from the wrong side. If you are using a typewriter, then you can attach the fabric to the right side of the leg. When finished, pluck out the basting thread and iron the pants with a warm iron. If you are shortening trousers made of dense fabrics, for example, tweed, wool, tartan or heavy linen, then make not one, but two stitches along the bottom of the garment so that they hold better.
And a few more tips on how to hem your pants correctly:
- Before trying on, wash and iron trousers made of linen, cotton or jeans at almost maximum temperature with steam, so you will protect yourself from unpleasant surprises that can be brought by fabrics that give strong shrinkage. After washing and ironing, the fabric will shrink, and you can hem your trousers in such a way that even when they shrink, they retain an attractive look.
- It is better not to wash new woolen trousers, but to iron them through wet gauze - then the fabric will "shrink" as much as possible. True, trousers can become narrow at the hips, in order to prevent this from happening, iron the trousers at the level of the beginning of the crotch seam.
- If you are hemming skinny pants or jeans, then increase the measured length by 0.5 - 1 cm at the folds at the hips.
Where to hem the pants
If you cannot shorten the thing yourself, then you should think about where to hem the pants. The first option is acquaintances, friends and colleagues who have a sewing machine. Be sure to thank the person for their help, at least with a simple chocolate bar or a fruit basket. Please note that you should contact a person in whom you are confident, otherwise you risk ruining the thing and your relationship with the person.
The second option is to search for an ad master. For this there is the Internet and newspapers, there you can find professional tailors who are ready to provide such a service. However, there are a couple of risks: the first is that you can get caught by a hack who is not able to do the job well, and the second is the opposite situation, a good master may not agree to take on such a small job. You should have several options in case of such a refusal.
The third way is to take the trousers to the sewing and repair shop closest to your home. There trousers will fit you in a short time, very high quality and relatively inexpensive. Information about tailoring can be found in the directory of your city or area.
If you live in a city with large shopping centers, then you can use the service provided by small departments right in the shopping center! The bulk of clothing stores provide their customers with a service of fitting clothes to the figure, and sometimes it can even be free, and if not, then for very little money, which is nice. Such work will be done quickly and efficiently, and you will also receive a guarantee for it.
