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Shortening jeans

Shortening trousers while retaining existing hem

Trousers too long? Shorten them easily, preserving the existing hem so you won't even notice your trousers have been shortened. Note: this is only possible with straight-leg trousers. You cannot do this with flared or tapered legs.
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Preparation 20 minutes
Total Time 20 minutes

Kitchenware

  • 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.
Keyword hem, zero waste, diy, sewing, shorten trousers