How to Hem a Jacket Sleeve With Buttons

Skip the tailor and hem your jacket sleeves at home.

Hemming jacket sleeves with buttons can be a challenge. Some people prefer to take the jacket to a professional seamstress or tailor. Prices can be reasonable for the alteration, but in some cities it can cost $45 or more. If you get the jacket on sale, hemming the sleeves can almost double the price. If you can hem pants, you can hem a jacket sleeve with buttons. If you take your time and work methodically, you can shorten the sleeves to an acceptable length.

Things You'll Need

• Pins
• Tape Measure
• Pencil
• Paper
• Scissors
• Bag that can be sealed
• Seam ripper
• Iron
• Needle
• Thread
• Chalk

Instructions

1. Slip the jacket on or have the wearer try it on. Mark with a straight pin the spot where you would like the hem to fall when shortened.

2. Take the jacket off. Use a tape measure to measure from the straight pin to the end of the cuff. Write down the measurement so you do not forget it.

3. Measure the distance between the last button and the edge of the cuff. Measure the distance between the buttons as well. Write down the numbers.

4. Remove the buttons of one sleeve by snipping the threads. Place them in a bag that can be sealed and set it aside. Take a seam ripper and slice the tack down stitches that are under the button placket.

5. Take out all of the stitches that attach the lining to the jacket sleeve. This will need to be done slowly and carefully with a seam ripper.

6. Fold the sleeve up the number of inches that you wrote down in Step 2. Pin it and press it with a warm iron. Do not use a hot iron because it may melt the lining.

7. Sew by hand a basting stitch on either side of the sleeve’s side seams to keep the sleeve fabric in place while you work on the buttons.

8. Measure where your buttons will be placed based on the measurements you wrote down. Mark the placement with a piece of chalk. Reach your hand in between the sleeve and the lining and sew the buttons into place with a needle and thread.

9. Clip your basting stitches.

10. Tuck the lining inside the folded cuff edge that you made in Step 6. Pull the sleeve taught from the shoulder to make sure the lining isn’t going to be too short. Pin the cuff.

11. Flip the sleeve inside out. Sew around the cuff by hand. Slip the needle through the fabric, catching the lining inside and pulling it back through the fabric. No stitches should show through the outside of the jacket.

12. Repeat the process for the other sleeve.

Tips & Warnings

• Do one sleeve at a time so you can refer to the original design or placement of buttons if needed.

References

• TV Lesson: How to Hem Suit Jacket Sleeves
• Britex Fabrics: How to Shorten Lined Jacket Sleeves
• Learning Alterations.com: Shorten a Suit Coat Sleeve