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If you don’t have a sewing machine and you are worried about how to hem your jeans? Don’t worry we’ve got you! Here is a complete guide on how to hem jeans by hand without a sewing machine.
How to Hem Jeans by Hand – 4 simple steps
First, take a look at the guide on How you can hem your jeans without a machine in just a few simple steps.
Step 1: Unpick the original hem
First of all, you need to grab the pants that you want to hem and you will need to unpick the current hem that’s already there so grab your quick on pick. It would help if you went through it. Unpick all those stitches on both sides.
Step 2: Fine new length for the pants
In this step, you’ll need to work out where you want the length of your pants to go down so if the pants are quite long it might be best to fold them up on the outside like that and get the person to wear the shoes that they do normally wearing with the pants once you have got the right length just pop a pin in so you can remember where you want the pant line to go down to. So, it would help if you did that on both sides. When you are satisfied with that move on to the next step.
In the recent step, we see how we want the pant leg length to be now. You could do this on both legs. First, you need to do it with one and then you can transfer the measurements over to the other leg.
Step 3: Prepare the new hem
As there is already marked length, now we just have to measure how wide that part is folded up. After that take a look on the other side to make sure the cuffs have equal length and the same distance all the way around. Plug more pins in to hold it in place. Make sure that is just even all the way around.
- As the cuffs are folded, measure the length you want and remove the extra part of the cloth with the help of scissors. After chopping off the extra fabric on both sides, remove the pins, fold the fabric inside the pants, and then iron the hem that you want to make. Do this all the way around on both sides of the pants.
- Once you ironed the fold part. Turn the cut edges inside (like a process of folding them), as a result, there will be no threads that come out of the fabric and this process also adds neatness to your stitching. Now again iron the fold part all the way around.
- Now we finished ironing the hem and we have the raw edge. Place a couple of pins on the hem just to stop it from coming unfolded while you are stitching.
Step 4: Stitch the hem of the pants by hands
This is the most difficult part of this whole process. Flow our expert instructions for a quick and neat hem.
- Now we have to stitch the hem of the pants by hand. For this process take your needle and thread. Try to use a single thread because that way you have less chance of the thread showing through the other side of the pant legs.
- Tie a knot at the end of the thread. The first thing you do after tying a knot is to secure the thread (for this part you just have to repeat a step 3 to 4 times which is putting the needle where you start to sew and revolve that thread through the same place of the fabric and make it tight) by 3 to 4 stitches.
- Now you have to move forward in stitching( if you are left-handed you’ll move from the left to the right side and if you are right handed then you will move from the right to the left side).
- Put your needle with a slight angle, then put your needle through those two layers, in the last layer try to grab 1 to 2 threads. It is just about an eighth of an inch down from the top of the hemline, try not to catch in the pins that you tuck in the fabric, repeat that process again all around the pant legs. Do this same process again.
Tips to sewing by hand:
The key is smaller stitches and bigger gaps between them. There should be 3 layers so go through the first 2 layers and pick threads from the last layer of the fabric. This process makes a loop and there should be stitches across the hemline.
Final results:
After this process is done on both sides, iron the new hem that you sew with your hands. And there is your pants are ready with new hem.
