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Hemming Pants
What you’ll need: - Pair of scissors - Tailor’s chalk or regular chalk - Thread (colour closest to your fabric) - Safety pins - Sewing needle - Seam ripper - Hot iron
Steps: 1. Use the seam ripper to undo the existing hem carefully. 2. Turn the pants inside out and put them on. 3. Fold the bottom up and inwards so that the pant is barely touching the ground. 4. Pin the pants on the side seams and the inseams. 5. Mark the pants with tailor’s chalk, and then take the pants off. 6. Iron the hem so that you have a crease in the pants where you’re going to be hemming. 7. Thread the sewing needle and begin to ‘catch stitch’ (see below). Make sure that the thread isn’t visible on the inside (right side).
Tips: After 10 stitches, tie a knot in case the thread breaks. Try on pants with the appropriate shoes and hem accordingly.
How to ‘catch stitch’:
1. Thread your needle 2. Insert your needle and thread to the wrong side of your hem. 3. Start working from left to right while pointing your needle to the left. 4. Place a small stitch in the fabric, approximately ¼ inch to the right near the edge. 5. Place the next stitch ¼ inch to the right on the hem and make your stitches form the letter “X”. 6. Continue, keeping an even space between stitches and keeping the stitches loose.