Thrifty Thursday: Hemming pants

I recently decided that I was no longer going to pay a tailor to hem my pants. Normally, almost every single pair of pants I buy either have to be hemmed or altered in some way. Needless to say, this was a pricey habit. After recently purchasing some private label pants from Ross for only $6.99I decided that paying to have the pants hemmed would have cost more than the pants themselves. In light of this I decided to purchase a sewing machine & try my hand at hemming.


The first thing I did was buy a sewing machine & a few sewing tools. I consulted with a very experienced sewer what type of machine and what tools I would need. In the end, I purchased a Brother Sewing Machine from Wal-Mart for $78.99 and it has 13 stitches and 25 stitch functions. I also purchased pins, a seam ripper, a cutting kit (included measuring mat and round pizza like cutter for creating straight edges), and black thread for around $10. Altogether I spent less than $100 after tax.

The next thing I did was research how to hem pants. I started off my talking to an experienced sewer and my mother on how to hem pants, what stitch to use etc. After this I felt that I still needed some visual guidance, so I researched the process on the Internet. I found and watched to very informative videos on how to hem pants. The first video demonstrated how to hem regular/dressy pants and the second video demonstrated how to hem jeans or pants with a special cuff.



After practicing on leftover fabric scraps and old tee shirts, I gave hemming my pants a shot and this is how they turned out. I am thrilled with my results & that each pant leg is the same length. While the hem is not professional, I think to looks pretty darn good for my first pair. There are a few spots where I did my stitch not exactly in the right spot, but because the pants and thread are black you cannot tell unless you hold the hem up close.

All in all, I am very excited about hemming my own pants and learning how to sew. Previously, it was costing me anywhere from $7 to $15 per pair of pants to have them hemmed by a tailor, so my sewing machine and tools have already paid for 10% of their cost. I sure that the items will pay themselves off with the money I am saving faster than I though possible. This was definitely a worth while investment and I am glad I learned how to do it.