From bottom of the jeans pile to the top!

I bought a pair of jeans ages ago on a whim, they were cheap, and were a good enough fit. But I got them home and after one wear they were way too big in the waist and seemed to get longer every time I wore them. Hippy girls are sure to agree that jeans which are a good fit around the hips and bum are inevitably too big in the waist. A belt is usually enough, but not for these, they bulged out beneath a very cinched in belt.

Eventually, after months at the bottom of my jeans pile, I decided to tackle the length issue. Jonathan had a pair of jeans taken up ages ago (by a professional!), and rather than just folding and hemming, they had reattached the bottom cuff so they still look like jeans. So I dutifully copied, and it was super easy.

Just measure the length you want taken up. Cut off at 1cm longer than this length. Then get the cuff end you've just cut off and cut down to the cuff plus 1cm. Pin the cuff (right sides together, so that the cuff is upside down on the outside of the jeans) to the pant leg. With a zipper foot, sew as close to the cuff as possible. Then zigzag or overlock the seam so that the jeans won't fray. Then fold up so the end is facing up and inside the pant leg and iron, iron, iron. If you find the end keeps folding down, just topstich close to the fold. and it is as simple as that.



For the waist, I found this really great tutorial for taking it at the side seams. I was a bit less precise with my method. I didn't bother unpicking the belt loop as I knew it wouldn't quite interfere with the new seam. And I only unpicked about half what they suggested. I did the side seam the same as suggested, just with less precise measuring!

The waist band was a bit trickier to do as I unstitched very much, so I did it a bit differently. I just cut the waist band and cut out enough so that the two ends of the band only slightly overlapped. I unpicked the top few stitches so that it the upper band would sit nicely over the inside band. Then I just sewed over the top. Yes you can see the seam, but they are just jeans, and a belt would cover most of this. The front bit slipped down a bit when repositioning too, that is the darker denim beneath the waist band, but that is only about 0.5cm. No one is exactly going to be staring at the sides of your jeans either!



So a few pointers:

• Use a denim or heavy duty needle, and have a spare just in case one breaks
• Sharpen the needle, I think this makes a big difference and will prevent broken needles
  
• Overlock or zigzag loose ends as denim frays
• I just used black thread, but a mustard colour would probably match the rest of the jeans better
• You can always take in further, so start with a small amount, and try on before cutting
  
• Jeans are forgiving and don't need to be perfect, as can be seen in my case.
  

Took about half an hour for the length and an hour for the waist. Now they fit perfectly, and the cuffs won't get all wet when it rains and I can bend over with no fear!