How to hem pants by hand and on a typewriter

What will you need

• Ordinary needles or special sewing pins with tips to secure the fabric;
• crayon or bar of soap;
• ruler;
• tape measure;
• scissors;
• iron;
• threads in the color of trousers;
• trouser tape - optional;
• needle or sewing machine.

How to determine the correct length of trousers

Put on your trousers. If you are wearing a belt, put it on and fasten it. This accessory can make pants look shorter.

Now turn the bottom of the legs inside out to the desired length. The back of the legs should completely cover the heel and lightly touch the floor. If you plan to wear trousers with low heel shoes, the classic length of the legs should reach approximately the middle of the heel. So the trousers will look neat and gather into an accordion at the bottom.

Secure the hem with needles, sewing pins, or make marks directly on the fabric with a chalk or pointed bar of soap. Then fold the pants in the direction of the arrows on a table or other flat surface, you can additionally fasten them together with pins.

On one leg, using a ruler, draw a solid line parallel to the factory seam along the mark made earlier. Then draw another one from this line, stepping back 3-4 cm, which will be needed for hem. Step back another 1.5 cm from it and draw another line. Do the same with the other leg. To keep them the same, make sure that the length of the legs from the crotch to the marking line is the same.

You can do without trying on if you have trousers that are completely suitable in length. Just fold them in the direction of the arrows and place them on the table over the trousers you want to shorten. Mark the desired length on the fabric with chalk or soap and make the same indents for the hem.

How to hem pants by hand with a blind seam

Cut off the excess length of the trousers along the bottom line.

Fold the fabric along the bottom line first and iron. Then make another twist along the top line and go through the iron again.

Pick up a thin thread to match the pants and thread it through the needle. Start sewing from the wrong side of the side seam. Insert the needle into the seam allowance and sew a few stitches.

Thread one thread through the leg without piercing through the fabric. Make the next stitch 5-7 mm to the left, passing through the fabric of the hem. Then one more stitch, grabbing the thread on the leg, in increments of 5–7 mm. The main thing - do not tighten the seam, it should be free.

Thus, sew the legs in a circle, and at the end, secure the thread with a few stitches and cut it. Such a seam will turn out neat and almost invisible.

How to hem pants with trouser tape

Cut off the excess length of the trousers along the bottom hemline. Carefully open the seams on the inside and outside to the top hem line to the width of the trouser tape.

Take a piece of trouser tape. Its length should be equal to the width of the leg plus 1 cm. Attach the tape to the back of the leg from the inside out. Insert the end of the tape into the ripped side seam at the top hem line. Baste it from above with a thread and a needle across the entire width of the leg, making arbitrary stitches. Insert the remaining end of the tape into the open side seam and secure with a few stitches.

Sew the seams with the trouser tape on the sewing machine from the inside out.

Then sew the sewing tape to the fabric of the pants at the top and bottom.

If your machine has an overlock function, use it to process the cut of the trousers. If not, do it manually. This will make your work look neater. Turn the leg inside out along the line of the sewn tape and fasten the fabric with pins. Make a basting stitch.

Sew the bottom edge of the pants with a blind stitch. And then remove the threads of the basting stitch.

How to hem pants with a sewing machine

Cut off the excess leg length along the bottom marking line. Fold the hem inside the trouser leg, and then hem again so that its edge coincides with the marking line. Secure this collar with pins, and then randomly sew with thread by hand, making a basting.

Sew the hem along the basting line on the machine. Sew on the wrong side using a regular straight stitch and a medium stitch length. Move from the inside seam and sew the leg in a circle.

After that, turn the pants inside out and remove the threads from the basting seam.