How to Quickly Hem Pants

If you have ever needed to quickly hem pants for a night out, you know what a pain it is to use the sewing machine when you're rushing to get out of the house. Here are some quick and easy ways that costume designers use on film and TV sets to shorten the long hems of pants.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. Instead of hemming your pants the traditional way, i.e. with a sewing machine, tape them up. First, fold one of the pants' legs inward to the desired length. Second, while keeping the fold in place, flip the pants' leg inside out. Finally, with 2-3 inch duct tape, tape down the fold evenly all the way around the inside of the pants' leg. Make sure you don't bunch up the material under the tape. Repeat with the other pants' leg. Hot or cold iron the very bottom of the pants to get a crisp bottom edge, if desired. Do not hot iron where the tape is.

2. To shorten your pants quickly, safety pin them up. First, fold the bottom of the pants' legs inward to the desired length. Then using safety pins, fasten the folded material to the inside of the pants. Do not pin too much of the material. The objective is to use safety pins on the inside that are not visible on the outside. The size and number of the safety pins will depend on the material. For heavy materials, use bigger safety pins; for light materials, use smaller ones. For loose materials, use more pins around the pants' legs; for sturdy materials, use less. If you are nervous about the safety pins unlatching, cover the pins with duct tape. Hot or cold iron down the hem if desired. Again, do not hot iron where the tape is.

3. Quickly tack up your pants by hand instead of using the sewing machine. Pin your pants' hem inward to the length you desire. Flip the pants' legs inside out. Using thread that matches your pants in color, hand-sew the pants hem on the inside. Use large stitches, 1" or more apart. Be sure to grab only a few threads of the inside of the pants, so that no stitch will be visible on the outside of the pants. Hot or cold iron the new hem, if desired.

Tips & Warnings

• Choose the method that best suits the material of the pants. For heavy pants like jeans, use the duct tape method. For flowing materials, try the tack up method.
• Once you have the desired length, your pants are ready to be hemmed permanently. So when you have the time, pull out the sewing machine and hem them up!
• Put on the newly shortened pants gingerly, especially the tacked up pants. Toes tend to find a way of ripping out the stitches!

[lindsey23]

on 6/29/2009 Perfect! I have some pants that I want longer some times and shorter other times... This is the solution! 5*!

[bossypants]

on 5/10/2009 Duct tape to the rescue! I used other tapes, in the past, for quick hem jobs, but they weren't very satisfactory. Thanks for these great ideas!

[Fuller1972]

on 5/7/2009 Great tips, I've had to do this before and it works! **5

[lydiabily]

on 5/2/2009 These are great methods! I've done the tacking one before but I've never tried the sewless options. Is there no end to the usefulness of duct tape?

[msknowalot]

on 4/30/2009 I haven't had to hem anything in quite a while, so thanks for these reminders of quick ways to hem.