Short?

Let's face it I have a short family. Hubby is short, I'm vertically challenged, and so are both my younger kids. Dallas is taller than me and is about average... but she is grown up and out of the house so I don't have to worry about her pants. Well I can't really say that because this summer I was sitting here hemming up a pair of her capri (I think that's what you call them) pants because rather than just below the knee they looked more like wonky ankle pants when she wore them.

The other day, while I was in Kamloops, I stopped at Value Village and bought Jevan 6 pairs of pants. I'm really tired of buying brand new pants from Wal-Mart. Why, you asked? He is rather large, and short, for his age and I pay a high price for his pants, then end up cutting off as much as 10 inches from each leg. That's 20 inches of material that I pay for and is basically wasted! I can pick up most pants for him at VV for around 5 dollars a pair. Although they are cheap that still doesn't help me with the excess material. I was speaking with my Mom about it and we came up with the brilliant idea to put elastic in the bottom of the legs around the hem!

Did you know that some pants you don't even have to cut? They are like a tube and you simply slip the elastic in using a safety pin, pull tight, then stitch at each end. Those type of pants usually have a small slit up the leg and some have zippers. But most normal pants I just cut one small slit on the inside hem, run the elastic through, pull tight, and stitch across the elastic. Then let it pop back in and sew up the slit. Done. The nice thing is if Jevan happens to shoot up a bit he can still wear the pants because they grow with him, no more "flood" pants.

Elastic... it's faster than hemming, better than rolling them up, and much better than dragging 10 inches of material behind him ;) Another bonus is that some of the pants are the lined snow/water proof kind and having elastic around them pretty much eliminates snow getting up and under to his boots.

Inside:

Outside:

Zippered hem:

Sew up a Pot Mitt

I started making these a few years ago because they were quick and easy. It's sort of a oven mitt but with no thumb so you can also use them for pot holders too. When I was in Wal-Mart I tried picking up the batting with the teflon on one side but unfortunately it was all sold out. I used normal batting for this tutorial but I think I should have cut two because it's too thin, so modify the pattern if you wish. Today I made this one with one colour but I've also made them striped with scraps of fabric I've sewed together, you can also use different coloured fabric for the pocket and back, well you get the picture, experiment :)

For the pattern pieces click here. There are four pieces on three sheets of 8.5 x11 inch paper. I've traced black around the outside edges to make it easier to cut out.

Cut 2 of the outside. Cut 1 pocket piece. Cut 1 batting (you may want to cut 2 or more if the batting you use is thin).
Because the batting does not go right to the outside edge, making this a snap to sew, you can probably use almost anything (old jeans, fleece, etc.) but make sure it's thick enough so that you don't burn your hand!



You'll also cut out 1 hanger. Sometimes I make it shorter or skinnier depending out what I have for left over fabric.

Place the batting on the wrong side of one of the outside pieces and pin in place. Try to centre it as best you can.

Sew randomly all over.

Press it with an iron.




Serge along the top of the pocket and fold down about 1/2 an inch, or you can just fold it over twice to create a hem.

Sew in place.

Place the pocket on the right side of the outside piece that does NOT have the batting sewn to it.

Place the batting/outside piece on top of the other two pieces, right sides together with the pocket in between.

Take your hanger piece of fabric and iron in half.

Open it up and see the crease?

Iron both halves up to the crease you created.




Fold in half and press.




Sew close to the edge.

Your hanger is inserted at the top of the other pieces, upside down and folded in half so you have a loop, raw edges sticking out.

Pin the whole works in place leaving about a 2 inch gap at the bottom. Do NOT sew between those two bottom pins!

Start sewing at the bottom pin and stop sewing at the other bottom pin. When you are sewing around and come to the hanger, backstitch a couple times so it will never come out :)




The gap you did not sew closed is used for turning.




Carefully turn everything.

I use a chopstick to push into the edges.




Use your fingers to flatten the gap and pin in place.




Press, press, press with a hot iron! When everything looks good, you're ready to topstitch along the edge, this is where you will catch that gap at the bottom.

Get as close as you dare but make sure to catch the gap.




Press with an iron and you're good to go bake something :)

Hemming Jeans, A Tutorial

I can't even begin to tell you how many needles I've broken while trying to hem jeans. At one point I was going to don safety glasses to protect my eyes from flying needles! But no more! I thought there has to be a better way and today I will show you just what I do. I consider this my 12 Step Program to Hemming Jeans. ------------------------------------------------- Start out by measuring from the inner crotch to how many inches long the legs need to be. Hubby has short legs (shhh don't tell him I said that). He needs his pants to be 27 inches. I need one inch to fold up so I mark 28 inches with a Sharpie.

Mark straight across with a ruler.

Cut and save the piece.

Use it to measure the second leg, mark and cut it.

If the only reason I bought my serger was to hem jeans then it was money well spent! Serge all the way around, just barely trimming. Yes I know it's white thread, and I know I should change it to blue, but I hate changing it and besides who's going to see the inside of Hubby's pants? If you don't have a serger I'm sure you could do a zig-zag stitch using your sewing machine. We just want to stop the fray.

Remember that extra inch when you measured? Fold the jeans up one inch and pin.

Make sure the seams lay flat.

Pin all the way around.

Use your sewing machine, and with blue thread, stitch all the way around. I like to follow the serger line.

Iron everything flat.

This step is purely optional but it will look more professional if you do it. Change your thread to gold and, using your sewing machine, sew around about a 1/2 inch from the edge.

Because the hem is only doubled over you can even backstitch over the seams, something I could never do if I had them folded up twice without risking a broken/bent/flying needle.

Finished.

The inside doesn't look so hot but when Hubby starts wearing his pants inside out then I'll worry about it. I'm sure there are a zillion different ways to hem jeans but this is what works for me. I hope you enjoyed the tutorial :) Update: This tutorial featured on: Tipnut.com DIY Life Curbly Creative Mom Cafe Thank you!