I feel like a real seamstress – I figured out how to blind hem pants! I can do it, so I know you can too – I want to show you how.
What is a Blind Hem?
I took “light” pictures so you can kind of see the stitching – it’s not as noticeable in real life. If you don’t know what a blind hem is, go grab a pair of dress slacks – notice how there’s not a regular hem, no line of stitches. Instead there is an occasional stitch, hiding the stitch line to make it virtually unnoticeable. The pants are “hemmed” inside and then every fourth stitch or so they’re tacked to the pant leg from the inside. That way you don’t see a continual row of stitches on the outside of the pant leg.
How to Blind Hem Pants
Choose the Blind Hem Stitch
Most sewing machines have a special stitch that will do this for you – – and I used it and it worked!! It sews a few straight stitches and then jumps over and tacks down the hem, then sews more straight stitches and repeats. It’s the one the arrow is pointing at – go see if you can find in on your machine…
Blind Hem Tutorial
And then this is the look after the stitching (from the inside) after you flip the cuff back out –
Blind Hem VIDEO Tutorial
SO, since it’s hard to show the steps in pictures, I busted out my super-awesome (only not) video skills and did a quick video where I could show you how to flip the hem correctly and where to sew so that you don’t see a seam. It’s only 2 minutes long, so not a big time-commitment. Here it is:
See, not that hard! Voila – hemmed pants, ready to wear:
Trevor got a few new pants at this discount store – they were such a good price he bought them even though the length wasn’t right because I told him I could hem them. Good to know I was right 🙂 It did take me a while to get to them – cause hemming pants isn’t the funnest thing. Until he razzed me about it on his blog … now they’re done!
Colleen says
Im laughing really hard right now! Thanks I really needed a laugh. Not because of what you wrote, you shared good info. But when you mentioned your husband something tickled my memory. I looked back on that post he wrote. Then I looked at my comment. I so enjoy your husbands blog. Sometimes he inspires me to some really witty comments. I guess thats why Im his top commentator! :o)
Dree says
I never even thought of doing a tutorial on this stitch.
When my younger son wears through the knees of his school uniform pants, I use the blind hem to make them shorts.
This is also the stitch I use to hem kitchen or bathroom curtains.
Heather says
Good job! I do a lot of blind hemming in my small alterations home business – and I actually find it fun. I generally lengthen the stitch a bit so that that tacks are further apart and than I sew as close to the edge as possible so that the tack stitch just catches the fabric. If you notice in professionally hemmed clothing, they often use invisible thread too – that way it’s not noticeable at all. A good pressing (with a press cloth) often take out any puckers, and if there are a lot of puckers happening, I loosen my tension a bit and that resolves that issue!
Caitlin says
My machine also has a blind hem foot that has a little fin in the middle to help you line up the blind hem stitch as you are doing it through the machine. I have a minor love affair with it. Makes hemming things a breeze since I don’t have to do it by hand.
Amanda (Stitch To Stitch) says
This was perfect timing, Mandy! I have two pair of dress pants I need to hem this weekend for my husband. They’ve been sitting here for a month and he keeps razzing me just like Trevor had been you. But I keep telling him that paying sewing jobs take precedence over hemming (and admittedly, I HATE to hem pants).
buttons says
I am definitely going to have to try this! I always just leave a row of straight stitch around my hems because I hate hand sewing, but this would look so much better!
Kelly says
Thank you for this…. I watched a few overly complicated tutorials and couldn’t wrap my brain around it. Your simple method of flipping it onto itself was so helpful and I ended up successfully hemming 9 pair of pants in about 45 minutes!
Thank you again!
Mandy Beyeler says
yea!!! glad I could help!