Hemming pants with Brandon

Meet my friend, Brandon. He's a short man, about 5'2". Because of his small stature, he has a difficult time finding clothes that fit him well, especially the length of pants. He came over last week with two pairs of pants that needed to be hemmed, a pair of jeans and a pair of khakis.

After watching me shorten his grey jeans, I walked him through the process of shortening his khakis. They needed to be about 2 1/2" shorter, and the seam allowance made it so that he had to rip out the previous hem to have enough fabric for the seam allowance on the new hem.

After pinning them to his proper length, he measured 2" down from the pin line and cut the fabric using chalk marks for his guide.

He then pinned a double folded hem every few inches, pinning it up to the same pin line, marking the bottom of the khakis. Time to sew! He hemmed them about 3/4" in from the bottom. Helpful hint for beginning sewers: use the edge of the presser foot or the edge of the bobbin case (if your machine has a top loading bobbin case) as a guide.

 Don't forget to always back stitch the beginning and end of your seams.

If you have a machine like this that sits on your desk, you can remove the front cover and sew sleeves and pant legs. You have so much more room.

Before and after.

Brandon is quite happy with his new khakis. And he is very impressed with himself doing it all on his own. He is now looking for his own sewing machine, and I'm keeping my eyes peeled at thrift stores. Being able to sew now opens up so many possibilities for him with shopping.