Shortening trousers - especially if you are not that tall - may be necessary to make them fall more flatteringly. It's a shame if you don't wear them much or at all because they are too long. Or that the trousers wear out sooner at the bottom because you keep stepping on them with your heels. Our do-it-yourself expert Melanie shares how to do the most common minor clothing repairs yourself from now on. So this time, a tutorial shortening trousers. Ha, nice!
Minor clothing repairs: shortening trousers
Repairing your own clothes is not only better for the planet, it also makes you a richer person yourself. You save a beloved item of clothing - because why did it break? It must have come óbecause you loved wearing it so much and you literally save yourself money, because that trip to the shop or tailor is no longer necessary. You fix it yourself for another round of wearing pleasure. So put on a nice podcast or playlist (tips for this we also have) and get to work on small repair jobs. This time we will get to work shortening trousers. Scored a cool pair of (second-hand) trousers, but don't wear them because they are too long? Don't worry, you can easily fix that yourself.
Sin! Far too many broken clothes in the wardrobe
A survey by UK textile organisation WRAP has found that 30% of people have garments hanging in their wardrobes that they no longer wear, simply because they need repair. Bummer! In France, the government is going to help people. Here, you get (up to) 25 euros discount on repairs (and pay an extra tax for a fast fashion purchase) in the hope that it will encourage people to repair clothes more often. In the Netherlands, we have to make do with initiatives such as United Repair Center, mended.eu (send in your repairs and get it returned fixed) or the local tailor - which we absolutely welcome, but more is always better.
Source: wrap.org.uk & change.inc & volkskrant.nl
On the left: step 3. In the middle: the final result on the outside. Right: the final result on the inside.
Shortening trousers while retaining existing hem
Tools
- ruler
- needle and thread
- pins
- scissors
- erasable pen
- iron
Instructions
- Measure how short your trousers should be and mark it on the pipe using the erasable pen (you can just find these at office supplies in different shops). Now draw a straight line with your ruler, 1 cm above the marked spot.
- Fold the leg outwards and place the hem of the trousers against the drawn line, right sides together. Secure with pins if necessary and iron everything well.
- Now sew right into the seam of the hem. It's best done with the sewing machine, but you can certainly do this by hand too.
- Then fold the hem down and the excess fabric inwards. If this is not too much, you don't need to cut this off.
- Now iron the hem well flat and the fabric well inwards.
A handy instructional video to watch this technique:
Get started with a no buy clothing style
Repairing clothes is great, but what do we do with all those other garments lying unused in the back of the closet? We get you started with the No Buy Fashion Guide. Over a hundred pages of cool ideas on how to look nice without even buying anything. Nothing. Nope. Nada. Not even second-hand! For 9.50 euros you will have it delivered straight to your inbox and thus on your tablet or mobile phone!
Will you also join this fun community? Read this guide too and discover lots of original ideas. Because so many cool clothes are already out there! Order the No Buy Fashion Guide from our webshop!
More durable repair tips from thegreenlist.nl
- A hole, tear or stain in your garment? Turn it into a work of art by Shashiko mending apply.
- For a tear, you can also try the ladder stitch. Check out the instruction here!
- Help, your knot is off! Read how to sew these back on here.
Photo credits: main image right: Cottonbro (Pexels), other photos: Melanie de Oliveira.
