Tips for How to Hem Pants

There's nothing quite as frustrating as finally finding a pair of pants that fit great through the waist, hips and thighs only to have them be too long and drag on the ground when you walk. If your pants are too long for you they can bunch up in awkward areas and ruin the perfect fit. Fortunately, hemming pants is very easy to do even if you don't have great sewing skills. With a little bit of time and effort those pants will be the perfect length for you and you can wear them out with confidence. Here are some instructions on how to hem your pants.

To get the pants to the right length it is really helpful to have someone assist you so you don't have to keep bending over to adjust them and then standing up again to see if your adjustment was correct. If you don't have someone to help you it is still possible to get them to the right length, it will just take a bit more bending and twisting on your part. Start by putting the pants on and standing in front of the mirror.

Either fold the bottom of the pant leg under yourself or have your assistant do it to adjust them to the correct length. Be sure to stand as you normally would when you are adjusting the length with your weight evenly on both legs so that you get the length accurate. Once you get the pant leg adjusted to the right length pin it in place. You should be able to just pin one leg of the pants while they are on and then adjust the other leg to match once you have taken them off. Remove the pants once your new hem length has been pinned in place.

Turn the pants inside out and pin the other pant leg up to match the one that you pinned while you had the pants on. Use an iron to press the fold into the pants so that it is easier to work with. The most material you can hem up without it getting bulky is around 2 inches, so if you have more fabric than that turned under trim off any excess so that your hem will lie flat.

Now, fold the raw edge of the fabric under to the inside of the hem so that you can't see it and it won't rub your leg when you have the pants on. Pin it securely in place. Repeat the process on both legs of the pants and try to keep everything even.

Next, whether you are hand stitching your pants or sewing them with a machine, stitch and even line all the way around the hem trying to keep the line as straight as possible and to keep it an equal distance from the bottom of the pants the whole way around. A sewing machine will automatically create nice even stitches, but if you are sewing by hand try to use short stitches and keep each stitch the same length as the others so that it look uniform and pretty.

When you are done stitching trim off any thread and turn your pants right side out again. That's it! You can now wear your perfectly hemmed pants out with pride knowing they are they exact right length for your body.