You guys gave me a lot of great feedback last week about my post on how to easily install a zipper, and I love feedback, so you get what you want. MOAR SEWING TRICKS.
Seriously, if there’s something in specific you want to see how to do, comment and I’ll do my best to make it happen. Please stop by and like the E.C.B. Facebook page, I’d be happy to talk to you there!
This week I’m going to show you how to do an incredibly easy hem for shorts.
I am not a leg model folks.
Pretend these are on somebody 6′ tall who has seen the sun…uhm, ever.
If you look closely at the bottom of the shorts (don’t let my legs blind you) you can see what appears to be a rolled up cuff that has been stitched down. It’s actually a faux cuff, but it can be a great way to hem shorts to keep them from looking too stuffy.
When you’re cutting your pieces, you shouldn’t have to add too much fabric to account for this method, but do keep in mind that you will need a seam allowance the same size as your “cuff” to avoid accidentally turning your shorts into hot pants. If you purposely want to make hot pants, more power to you. I wear short shorts too.
Finishing the hem on your shorts should be done after the leg holes are completely sewn together. This keeps you from having to worry about lining up wonky seams. You can just fold everything to the right length and stitch in one nice, continuous circle around each leg.
With this process, you can pin if you’d like to, but I strongly suggest letting the iron do the work for you. Start by turning your shorts inside out so all the seams are exposed. Fold the bottom of your short leg up into the inside of the shorts to the height you want your cuff to be, ironing the crease as you go. I typically make a 1″ cuff. Now fold the cuff over onto itself again, making sure the bottom edge of your pant leg is caught in the new crease your are forming. When you are finished pressing your second crease, your shorts should look more or less like this:
Without unfolding anything, stitch your cuff along what is currently the bottom edge of your shorts leg (as shown above). This is where it’s going to show if you didn’t get your original edge up into that crease. Make your stitching far enough away from the crease to ensure you’ll catch the original edge, but not so far in that it looks dopey. I typically do around 1/4″ in.
Once that edge is sewn, all you need to do is unfold the cuff and iron everything flat. A nice, entirely enclosed raw edge, a cute cuff for your shorts, and way less time invested than trying to do anything by hand!
Here’s hoping this will help you knock out a few pairs of shorts to celebrate this warm weather we’ve been having! Please let me know if you need any clarifications about any of this, or if there are any particular techniques you’d like to see demonstrated!
Especially Creative Broad 