hemming my jeans

I decided to be ambitious. And cheap.

I decided to hem my own jeans.

You can see what a sad state they had reached. I was embarassed to wear them in public.

Fortunately Darren's grandmother gave us a sewing machine for a wedding present. At the time I laughed and thought "when will we ever use that?" Not laughing anymore.

You can see how long my jeans are...er, were in my 3-inch heels. (Side note: Notice how the floor is crooked but it looks like I'm standing up straight in the picture. Wanna know how I did that? Yeah, me too.)

Let's take a moment to admire these shoes.

They're so pretty.

These are my jeans. I got them at a second hand store. I don't know why they're called Boy Jeans, and I don't know what brand they are. You can imagine how difficult it is for me to find more. Every time I Google "boy jeans" I get, literally, boy jeans. It's a constant source of frustration in my life. If you know where to find them, I would be eternally grateful.

First I measured the distance from the inseam. It was 33". I'm 5'6". A 33" inseam is actually half my height. I told you they were really long jeans. (Notice how ripped the bottoms are. I had to cut off 2" to even have decent material to work with.)

I marked them with a Sharpie at 31" and started cutting.

Gulp. No going back now.

I don't own a serger (nor would I know how to use it if I did) so I zig-zagged the ends to keep them from fraying. Which they did. Immediately.

Slightly uneven. I didn't think it mattered, but oh, it most definitely did.

My instructions said to pin a 1" hem and sew it.

So I did. And then they were too short. Thank heaven for seam rippers.

I repinned a 3/8" hem and sewed right down the middle of the zig-zag. (And that's why it was important it wasn't crooked. Oh well.)

And, now for the finished product...

Drumroll, if you please...

Okay, before you see it...my jeans were really baggy after three straight days of wear, so they look awful. Pretend they're dryer-fresh.

And, my butt looks big because I'm standing awkwardly trying to make my stomach look small. Hah.

Still shorter than I like (I had to cut off SO MUCH because they were shredded) but I guess you are better able to see the cute shoes.