Hemming problem

Serge, I've been considering cutting down an old pair of jeans to make shorts and thought that I would measure down from the bottom of the waist band and making marks about every 3 inches or so and then connecting the marks to make a line. I would then cut on the line through a single layer of fabric. I'm not sure but I think that your problem may be cause by the fact that pants are not the same in the front and back. that's to account for room needed to fit the anatomy, male or female. I do hope someone else jumps in hear and corrects me or affirms my thoughts. Juno

I don't have an explanation, but that is curious, isn't it!

That has never happened to me as I never cut pants straight across, as the front is often a tad shorter than the back. Once I've decided on how much shorter they need to be, say 3 inches, I take a ruler and mark 3 inches up from the existing hem all the way around. Then I use sissors to make the cut, following the 3 inch mark. This mimics the 'lay' of the original hem.

-Irene

I've always measured from the hem up, because the way DM taught me. She was the authority on sewing as far as I was concerned when she was living. Emily

Dear Serge,

You can't cut like that. Pants of any style are tapered. You must measure up from the bottom edge, and cut evenly around. You also can't use a wide (normal) hem when you cut off; you can use no more than 5/8 inch hem, turn it under 5/16 inch and stitch, then another

5/16 and sew again. They shouldn't pucker if you do it that way.

Teri

But I learned the hard way: when shortening cheap pants, *first* verify that the legs as purchased are the same length!

And, just as with yard goods, wash them before you decide how much to cut off.

Joy Beeson

It is a geometry problem. The pantslegs are tapered like: \ / so when you cut straight across with either the seams or the creases at the side the result is a ^ or V shape where you cut. Check it out with paper.

To correct this, lay the pants leg flat with the creases outermost, place one side of a right angle rule at the crease-edges (allowing for the depth of the desired hem)

*front and then back* and use the bottom of the angle rule to mark about 2" toward the side seams, BUT don't cut yet. Now place a straight edge across and join the ends of the previous marks, creating a slightly curved hem (well actually three straight lines, but the result is almost a curve). This can also be done with a French Curve rule, but if you don't have one just eyeball the entire line and when you cut leave a little excess so you can modify the curve. You may also have to open the seams a little to accommodate the (smaller) bottom hem edge to the (larger) pants leg where the hem will be sewn. I usually measure the depth of the hem, then sew a new seam in the hem allowance, swinging the stitches out as far as possible to provide enough fabric to allow for two different sizes.

HTH,

Beverly

You're absolutely correct; I KNEW it had to do with the geometry of a pant's leg. And I tried for hours to figure it out, but couldn't! I love ya, Bev!!! (BTW, I did get a decent hemline, but it was really thru LOTS of eyeballing and pinning) After posting my question here, I asked a buddy who is a college math professor to look at the photos, and I just now received his email which you'll enjoy, I'm sure:

++++++ Begin Math Prof's response ++++

You're on target with the "cone" thing. If you want to do an experiment, get one of those conical paper drinking cups and flatten it. The shape you get will not look like a triangle, but a pie slice. The length measured from the vertex to any point on the edge has to be the same, so the shape must be a sector of a circle. If you cut the rounded edge off so that your flattened shape now looks like a triangle, you'll have shortened the center radius by some amount, but not the radii at either side. If you unflatten it, you'll see your chevron effect.

So if you want a straight pant leg, next time go out to your driveway and lay the pants down as you did before. Get a large straightedge and a piece of chalk, and extend the lines along the outside edges of the pants until they intersect. The intersection will be the center of the circle. Then get out your giant compass and draw an arc across your pants at the desired place. Cut across the arc and then try to get the transmission fluid out of your new shorts.

However, my wife says there is another problem. Even if you do get a non-chevron cut, pants ride differently on each person, so you may get a bottom edge on your shorts higher or lower in the back. She says the only way to get it right is to put the pants on the person who's going to wear them, and use a yardstick, measuring from the floor to mark a dotted chalkline around the leg.

++++end his relply++++

OK, so his solution is a bit pendantic (after all he is a prof!), but you are spot on, Beverly!! And so are your instructions!

Now, since I don't have someone with the eye or patience to mark my pants with a yardstick, I like your solution (below) and next time I do something like this, I'll use it. Thanks for your response!!!!

my home; and little by

eau, 1889-1963

Pants have an Inner seam length and an outer seam length ,, mirjam

That's more-or-less what I finally did as a work-around, but it took a lot of time and fooling because I took a lot off, and I did not have a real "method". They are still not quite right, but I don't care that much since these will be "knock-around" shorts.

Take a look at Beverly's response (below) and my response (below that) for the explaination and for Bev's solution, which is spot-on

This is HILARIOUS to read but it won`t do what you request !!!! Best way if you can have a Helper who will measure it ON you while you wear it ,, If you can`t , you might consider finding that Antique gadget ladies used [ My mother used to have one] it had a little colored talcum container , One adjusted it to wanted height from the floor and turned around , while pushing a cord that made the colored talcum mark the skirt`s hem . there are some books that give you advice on `sewing with out a pattern` ,,, which have a Formula , that used your body`s measurements

• x or + y , to get good results ,,, Sewing Mags have merasurements tables that are relative to one`s height , which ALas doesn`t always fit all of us ,,, Best way is doinf some TEST sewing with some cheap cloth or with old clothes or old bed linen ,, and this way Have the FEEL of our own measurements , and what will fit us best !!!! mirjam

Ahem! (It's Beverly) ;-)

ROTFLOL!!! Gotta love a professor with a sense of humor! ;-)

I'm so glad it helped. I alter lots of (long) pants for my DDs, and after marking the back length exactly where each one wants it with the exact same shoes she intends to wear, I mark the hems using the method I described. Except their pants are all now flared at the hem, so the arc is drawn down instead of up. But still, basically the same method. Incidentally, one DD has a substantial difference between the lengths of her legs, so I always mark the pants *on her*. I refuse to tackle an alteration job based on "Here, Mom, these fit ok, just make them the same as these".

You might want to experiment with marking the backs slightly longer then the fronts. In my experience, pants hike up a little in the back, especially after sitting, and are loath to return to the proper position. :-}

Beverly

Psst! Lots of us have no one willing or able to mark hems in pants or skirts, so maybe this would help:

so sure it would work with pants, though. I have one of those plus one which uses pins. NAYY,

Beverly

Kay

Yes , yes i didn`t know how it wa called , but my mother used to have one ,, it was very useful for skirt hems !!! mirjam

What a neat idea, Kay! I've never read that anywhere else...did you devise that method yourveryownself?

Doreen in Alabama

It is certainly high enough, and I could get about 70% of each leg marked.... So, why wouldn't it?

I'm sure it's been invented multiple times... but yes, I think I did come up with it independently when I lived by myself and needed to hem some things. Had string and cornstarch and a couple of thumbtacks....

Kay

One portion of the chalk hem-marker goes *inside* the garment being marked, and the hinged chalk-dispensing part is outside. You pull the chalk-dispensing (hereinafter called CD) part to make contact with the garment *and* the inside-the-garment post and squeeze a bulb to puff chalk onto the garment. I'm just not sure how well the "inside" part would move around your leg *inside* a pants leg, and I know from my own experience that aiming the CD gizmo gets more and more difficult as the whole apparatus moves around behind you (or you move in a tight circle around it). In addition, you have the problem of guiding it around your shoes. As I said, I have used one, but only for skirts, so perhaps I'm over-thinking this.

Beverly, liking Kay's method more all the time....

I suspect we all have "inventions" or unique techniques for doing things which we have developed using trial-and-error, which have been independently "invented' by others also. I think it's called "Re-inventing the Wheel". Or "Necessity is the Mother of Invention". ;-)

Beverly