Allingtons Blog | How to Hem your Western Jeans

If you are someone like me who is genetically predisposed to have short legs and little to no patience (the patience bit comes into this a bit later!), then the hem of your denim or moleskin pants will be dragging on the ground. You can always roll them up or tuck the excess under, but that wonderfully worn-look stitched hem, synonymous with country and western-style denim jeans, will be hidden away.

If you are someone like me who is genetically predisposed to have short legs and little to no patience (the patience bit comes into this a bit later!), then the hem of your denim or moleskin pants will be dragging on the ground. You can always roll them up or tuck the excess under, but that wonderfully worn-look stitched hem, synonymous with country and western-style denim jeans, will be hidden away.

Now, I’m not what you would call a seasoned sewer, but I do own a sewing machine and I know how to thread a needle. I also have a very easy way of hemming your new pair of western jeans, which will keep the existing hem, and the best part….no professional seamstress skills are required!

At this point, I would like to acknowledge the fact that there will most likely be experienced sewers out there who have a much better way of doing this and some fancy equipment to make this a breeze, but if I can get my teenage daughter doing this, then I think anyone can give it a go. Sew let’s begin (like the pun?!)

What you will need to hem your Western Jeans

Before You Start

Let’s get started on hemming those jeans!

1. Find the right length

Pop your jeans on and turn up the cuff so the bottom sits exactly where you want it to. Pop on your favourite western boots to do this or you may end up hemming them too short. Check out the length in a mirror. Bending over to take a look will shorten your pants and your length will be a bit off.

2. Mark the length

Place a pin at the very bottom of the turned over cuff section, as close to the folded over part as possible.

Whip off your jeans, unfold the cuff so you can see the pin [pin 1] showing through from the inside of your jeans.

3. Fold the original hem into position

Now fold the bottom hem up so that the edge of the existing hem sits just above your pin [pin 1].

Pin the new hem [pin 2] just below the existing inside hem all the way around, making sure the side seams line up.

Use a tape measure to make sure you are turning up the same distance all the way around.

4. Check the fit

Fold the excess hem back up inside the pants leg and you will now see that your pants are pinned so that the existing hemline still shows.

Carefully pop your jeans back on and take a look at your handy work (again in a mirror!).

If you are happy with the length, use the pins to hem the other leg at the same height.

Once both legs are pinned, use the tape measure to measure the inside leg seams just to make sure the legs are the same length. If you happen to have one leg longer than the other, you may need to make some adjustments to suit. A good way to get the length right in this case is to get someone else to measure the distance between the floor and your hem and make sure this distance is the same for both legs.

Now for the fun part - Let’s get sewing!

Do you remember a bit earlier when I said I was not genetically blessed with patience? If you don’t have a sewing machine, you can now thread your needle and start stitching by hand. The process is the same as a machine. This will take a little longer than machine stitching but it is a perfectly acceptable alternative (unless you are me and have zero patience).

5. Sew around the hem

Thread your machine with similar coloured cotton.

Pop the leg of the jeans over the arm of your sewing machine and straight stitch around the pinned hem, removing pins as you go and stitching as close as possible to the existing hem.

6. Press and finish the hem

Once both legs are stitched, give the seam a quick iron, pop your jeans back on and see how they look. Once you are absolutely happy with the result you can cut off the excess denim on the inside of the leg. To be honest, I have never cut it off, I just put a couple of stitches in the inside side seam to hold the excess up in the leg and leave the whole lot there. It really does depend on how much you need to take up.

Every time you wash your jeans, just iron the hem under and after a few washes the hem will flatten and stay in place.

Now you and your denim jeans are ready for your next big night out!

This hem can be done on any western or country style jeans, denim or moleskins. Typically, this ‘how to’ is for jeans that only need to be taken up an inch or so for boot cut jeans and maybe up to 2 inches for straight leg and skinny leg jeans. Anything more than that, especially with boot-cut jeans, you might have to admit defeat and find your closest dressmaker.

Good luck. Let us know in the comments how your newfound sewing skills turn out!

FAQs

This blog is written in good faith as a suggested method of hemming Western Jeans. No responsibility is taken for mismeasurement or injury/damage to a person or equipment.