How to Decorate a Sweatshirt Hem

Spruce up your sweatshirt.

Sweatshirts debuted as primarily functional items of fashion that blocked out cold temperatures and kept muscles warm. Nowadays, sweatshirts can have chic patches and patterns that distinguish them and the wearer. If you have a sweatshirt that could use some sprucing up, but you don't want to overdo it, just decorate the hem. This is a smart way to add some flair to the garment in an understated manner.

Things You'll Need

• Chalk
• Rhinestones or rivets
• Hot glue gun or hand-held riveter machine
• Scissors

Instructions

1. Lay the sweatshirt in front of you on a flat surface. Go over the line of horizontal stitches that create the hem with a piece of chalk. Do this all around the sweatshirt's hem. This will help to guide you as you decorate.

2. Place a rhinestone or rivet on the chalk line you just drew. Add a tiny dab of hot glue underneath it or press it in place with a hand-held tool such as a riveter or rhinestone setter. Repeat this until you've covered the entire line of stitches with rhinestones or rivets.

3. Snip the very bottom of the hem's fold. This will create a small hole.

4. Insert the tip of one of your scissors' points into this hole and cut along the hem's fold. Continue all the way around the sweatshirt. This will give your sweatshirt a very subtle yet distressed look.

Tips & Warnings

• Instead of slitting the bottom crease of the hem, cut a portion of the hem right off.

References

• "Generation T: 108 Ways to Transform a T-shirt"; Megan Nicolay; 2006