With my most recent pairs of ankle pants — these pink-and-burgundy patterned ones from Target and my redyed burgundy ones — I had mentioned that they felt a little short. So I got to work letting out both hems for a couple of low-key sewing projects.
The easiest of the two was my redyed burgundy pair, because all I had to do was take out the little bit of stitching on each side of the cuffs. But I checked first if the dye had evenly distributed on the underside of the cuffs, which it thankfully had. 🙂
When I took out that stitching, I unrolled the cuffs but was left with a bumpy line. Out came the iron and spray bottle!
And that was it! I got about 1.5 inches more out of the pants hem, which you could see on Monday’s post. Here’s a before-and-after look:
For the second pair, my patterned ankle pants from Target, I had noted that I had quite a bit of hem to work with, as seen here. I started out by taking out the hem stitching, which left the serged ends.
I then ironed and pinned down a quarter inch and sewed around the edges with dark pink thread that closely matched the pattern.
I ended up getting about a inch more out of these pants! And the final result:
And another before-and-after:
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Both of them look really, really flattering in the after photos. I liked the before look, too, of course, but that extra little bit of length really makes your legs look crazy-long! So well done, haha.
I am paying a nice lady to hem my pants now. I’ve tried to do it myself, but I don’t have a sewing machine and my hand stitches are… the word “stunning” comes to mind, and not in a positive way. ALso those Target pants are adorable. I love that print!
Hi, Katie! I agree, an inch or two really makes ALL the difference! And my hand-stitching of hems is not all that great, either, so I was glad that I was able to sew the hems on the Target pants, and not sew at all for the burgundy ones! 🙂
Dear Jennifer,
What I have always done to eliminate the fold line on a former hem is to take a paper bag and fold it in half. Then I place the paper bag over the fold line and spray the paper bag with water. This then produces steam which usually eliminates the former fold.
Love, Mom
Ahhh, yes, I do remember that. Thanks for the reminder, Mom! 🙂
I almost bought a pair of pants from LOFT this week and even on me they felt too short! I need to learn some sewing skills so I can do this kind of stuff.
I am realizing that I look at clothes a little differently now — like noticing how much extra fabric there is in case I would need to let out hems. But if you see CUFFED pants that are too short, then usually all you would need to do is let out the bit of stitching holding the cuffs in place, rather than sewing anything — like I did with the first pair of pants. No sewing at all — easy-peasy!
This is so great! The new lengths are perfect!
Thanks so much!
They both look great with the new lengths!
Thanks, Gracey! An inch or two really make such a difference, eh?
Wow, you’re so handy with the sewing machine! I’m jealous. 🙂
Thanks, Jen! But this is really do-able, I promise — I haven’t done anything fancier than straight stitching. But it’s AMAZING how long it took me to get out this sewing machine (it was in storage for 7 years!) — the main thing holding me back I think was the idea of mis-threading the machine. Once I got over that, it was straight seams ahead! 😉