How to get pants and jeans hemmed right.

Wash it first, then hem it

The most common hemming mistake has nothing to do with sewing. It is hemming a brand new pair of cotton pants before they have ever been washed.

Cotton shrinks, and most of that shrinking happens in the first wash or two, mostly from heat in the dryer. Hem a new pair at the perfect length and they can come out of the first hot cycle sitting above the ankle. The fix costs nothing: wash and dry them once or twice the way you normally would, then bring them in.

The care label is there to help with exactly this. The Federal Trade Commission's Care Labeling Rule requires manufacturers to give care instructions and to warn when a care method would harm the garment, so the label tells you how the pair should be washed and dried before the length is set.

Here in North Texas plenty of people run a hot dryer to beat the humidity, and heat is usually what causes the shrinking. Follow the label for the first couple of washes and the length will hold.

Stretch fabrics move the other way. Pants with a little spandex often relax after a few wears, which changes how the hem breaks over the shoe. If they are new, wear them around the house for a day before the fitting.

Where the hem should fall

"The break" is the small fold of fabric that forms where the hem meets the top of your shoe. How much break you want is partly taste and mostly a function of the shoe. Pick a shoe below and see where the hem lands.

Two rules survive every preference. First, the hem is marked while you are standing in the shoes, not folded over on a table. Second, dress slacks and jeans are judged differently, because a slack is meant to drape and a jean is meant to stack a little.

A hem marked for flats and a hem marked for boots are not the same length. Bring the shoes.

Jeans and the original hem

Jeans deserve their own paragraph because of that thick, slightly faded edge at the bottom. On a well worn pair, cutting it off and sewing a plain hem is visible from across a room: the new edge is a clean dark line where the old one was faded and roped.

There is a better option. The original hem can be removed in one piece, the extra length taken out of the leg above it, and the original hem reattached. You keep the worn edge and the original topstitching, and the only evidence is a seam a few inches up that nobody looks at. It takes longer than a plain hem, so say at drop off which you want.

A plain hem is still the right call on new jeans with no fading, on heavily tapered legs, or when the length needs to come up a long way.

The three hems, and when each is used

"Hem it" sounds like one job. It is really three, and which one a garment gets changes how it looks and how long it takes.

A blind hem is the standard for dress slacks, skirts and most lined trousers. The fabric is folded up and stitched so the thread barely catches the outer cloth, which leaves the front almost unmarked. It is the invisible one, and it is what most people picture when they think of a professional hem.

A topstitched hem is the visible row of stitching you see on jeans, chinos and casual trousers. It is meant to show, so the thread colour and the distance from the edge both matter, and a good one matches what the factory did on the other seams.

The original hem reattached is the jeans trick covered below, where the factory edge is saved and put back on. It takes the longest and it is the only way to keep a faded worn edge.

Cuffs are their own case. If a pair came with turn ups and you want them kept, say so, because shortening a cuffed trouser means taking the cuff apart and rebuilding it at the new length rather than simply hemming above it.

Dresses, skirts and coat sleeves

Trousers get the attention, but the same length question shows up all over a wardrobe.

Dresses and skirts are marked from the floor up, the same as a gown, because the eye reads a hem against the floor and the legs rather than against a tape measure. A dress that is level on the table can still look crooked on a body, and the only way to catch that is to pin it while it is being worn.

Coat and jacket sleeves are the alteration people put off longest and notice most once it is done. The right length shows roughly half an inch of shirt cuff when the arm hangs. Sleeves with buttons at the cuff, and lined sleeves, both take longer, because the lining has to be shortened separately and the buttons moved to match.

Sleeves on a tailored jacket can sometimes be shortened from the shoulder instead of the cuff, which is the right call when the cuff detail is worth keeping. It is a bigger job, so it is worth asking which approach a particular jacket needs.

What to bring to the fitting

• The shoes you wear most with those pants.
• The pants themselves, washed and dried at least once if they are cotton.
• A pair that already fits perfectly, if you have one. Matching a known good length is the fastest route there is.
• A note of anything unusual: a cuff you want kept, an original hem you want saved, a lining that also needs shortening.

Multiple pairs are welcome, and it is usually quicker to do several at once than to come back three times.

Doing several pairs at once

If you have a stack of trousers waiting, bring them together. There is real time saved in one fitting rather than three, and more importantly the lengths come out consistent, because they are all marked in the same session against the same shoes.

Sort them before you come. Put the dress slacks in one pile and the jeans in another, because they are judged against different shoes and finished with different hems. Within each pile, check whether any are already the length you want, since one good pair is the fastest reference there is.

It is also worth asking yourself about which ones you actually wear. A pair that has sat unworn for two years because the length is wrong is worth fixing. A pair that no longer fits in the waist is a different job, and sometimes not worth doing at all.

When a hem is not the answer

Sometimes length is not really the problem. Pants that drag at the back but sit right at the front are usually a rise issue, not a hem issue. Pants that pool at the ankle on a tapered leg may need the leg narrowed rather than shortened. And a pair that is too long and too big through the seat is two jobs, not one.

None of that is a reason to leave them in the closet. Bring them in, put them on, and Nayna will tell you what is actually going on and whether it is worth doing. If it is not worth doing, she will say that too.

Questions people ask

Should I wash new pants before hemming them?

If they are cotton or a cotton blend, yes. Wash and dry them the way the care label says once or twice first, so the hem does not end up short after the fabric shrinks.

What shoes should I bring to a hemming fitting?

Bring the shoes you will wear most with those pants. A hem marked for flats is a different length from a hem marked for boots or heels.

Can you keep the original hem on jeans?

Yes. The original hem can be cut off, the length taken out of the leg above it, and the original hem sewn back on, which keeps the worn edge and the topstitching.

Do you hem pants for Sherman customers?

Yes. Nayna hems from her home sewing room in Denison and takes work from Sherman, Pottsboro, Howe, Van Alstyne and the rest of Grayson County.

How short can pants be taken up?

Most pants can come up several inches, but tapered legs change width as they go up, so a very large change can make the opening too narrow. Bring them in and Nayna will tell you what the leg will allow.

Sources

• FTC guide to the Care Labeling Rule