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Friday, May 27, 2011

Hemming pants





So, the jumpsuit is all finished. With a big help from Mr. C :-) who attached all the snaps. With such a sturdy material as this denim, it does take a lot of strength to punch holes through!



As promised, today I'm going to show you a little trick for hemming pants. The problem with hemline is that a certain hemline is suited for either flats or high heel shoes but rarely both. Ideally, we'd have each pair of pants hemmed for a specific pair of shoes. Frankly I don't have the storage capacity or the desire for such a large collection of pants.

With pants I know I'll wear with different shoes, usually jeans, since I always wear dress pants with a 5 cm heel, I adapt the hemline in the following manner:

First I line the seams together on each pant leg;



Then I take my french curve and draw a smooth line from the beginning of the seam to the center back of the pant leg.





As you can see it ends up looking like a nice soft curve. I know it might look strange, but it does make for a nice effect. The reason for making a curved hem on the back is to accommodate for wearing flat shoes without dragging the pants on the floor. I've seen many women do this and it's hideous. Frayed hemlines, wrinkled and dirty pants. Eeek!



I finished the raw hem with a bias binding, turned it inside and finished the hem with a basic straight stitch. Because this material is non stretch, I had a bit of difficulties sewing the curve without the fabric puckering. A fabric with a bit of elastane is much easier to work with.



And finally this is how it looks like. Please excuse the rather bad photos, it's difficult to get an accurate shot in the mirror.
In the first photo I'm wearing flip flops and the front of the hem sits nicely on my foot while the back of the hem won't drag on the floor.



This time I'm wearing my wedges with a 10 cm heel and as you can see the hem line is works well with these shoes too.



And that's that. Some people might find my method a bit weird, but personally I like the effect of the curved hemline and it definitely makes for one versatile pair of pants.

3 comments:

  1. Great. You must feel satisfied, you made the jumpsuit all by yourself! I like the special small details seen in the pictures. Congratulations!

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  2. Wow what a great tip my pants tend to drag on the ground when I wear flats urgggg,wonder if I could ask my dress maker to try this out!!! wish you lived nearer coffeeaddict. ida

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  3. Mette: sewing always makes me happy, particularly after hard work and long hours finally pay up :-)

    Ida: I think if you explain it well, it shouldn't be a problem, most dress makers will have no problem hemming pants in this manner.
    And I too wish you lived closer, we could have a cup of coffee or tea and a nice chat.

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