Can I let a hem down on suit trousers?

[Invisimamma]

Bought my son a suit for a wedding on Vinted, he'll only wear it once so trying to save money l. It's arrived and looks like the trousers will be too short. I did measure him but these look very short.

Is it possible to let down the hem to give an extra inch or so. I don't want to ruin the trousers but it looks like if I unpick the stitching I can get a bit of extra length? Suit is from Next is that makes any difference.

Photo of the inside of the trouser hem.

It’s likely that there will be a mark where the material was folded that won’t come out with cleaning as it will be caused by fade on the material. There also seems to be an extra bit of hem reinforcement on the folded edge (top of section shown in pic).

if you have a good sharp stitch unpicking tool you could always carefully unpick one leg and see how it looks. Bear in mind you’ll still need at least 1.5cm to make a new hem as you can’t just have the overlocked edge on show. and you’ll need to do an invisible hem stitch on it.

don’t go messing about trying to unpick it with scissors, you’ll just make a hole in the material.

You Tube is your best bet here, but it will be very hard to get it perfect.

is he an adult or a child?

Just done this with a pair of DH suit trousers, as it seems they fitted when purchased and he now wants them slightly longer, so it was try or consign to the charity shop! I removed the hem / heel area reinforcement, which is usually just sewn onto the hem after the hem is finished and rarely affects the material. Be careful, take your time, so as not to pull / cut the suiting fabric. Then unpick the hem and see if there is any fading on the crease line; sometimes you can be lucky. Then, if they are only being worn once (and here I am not liable for any issues, but I did this in desperation once and it worked), I used a aqua coloured pencil (one of those when wetted act like a water colour) on the faded line and it disappeared.

Thank you! Sounds like it's not as simple as I thought it might be, I have a month to decide what to do. Good to know it can possibly be done though.

He's 13 but is 6ft and very much man-sized! He's also very image conscious.

The other option is to try to source the trousers on Vinted in another size but it's old Next stock and literally hundreds of pairs of blue suit trousers on there.

Do you know how to unpick? It’s not the zigzag threads you need to unpick, they are just there to prevent the fabric having a raw edge. You tube probably has an explanation somewhere.

and this is the tool you need

Does he think they are too short? Slightly short men's trousers seems to be a look at the moment. Maybe he can just trendy them up.

Oh and obviously you’ll also need to press them to get rid of the fold line, make sure you press on the inside so they don’t go shiny, and dampen the fabric a bit/and or press under a damp cloth. Put iron as high as it can go without scorching.

then you press the new small hem in again when done.

I just remembered- for putting the new small hem in you could use Wundaweb, basically tape that melts with the iron and binds the fabric together, so no need to worry about invisible sewing. Can’t believe I forgot that existed!

Yes, you can let them down (it just needs a good steam to get rid of the line), and if they are significantly too short and you need the whole hem depth, sew a piece of matching ribbon/ bias binding to the zigzagged edge, then you can turn literally just the edge over and use the ribbon as the hem. I did that with my ds's trousers when he was at a difficult height. Now I buy suits from the reduced bit on ASOS who are great for tall fit

Thank you, so helpful! This is what Mumsnet is for.

I have wonder web and I'm sure I have one of those pickers in the sewing kit.

Yes, you can do it. Unpick with the tool already posted.
If he's only going to wear them once, just drop the hem and rehem them. Press the old fold until it doesn't show.

It should be fine. The best thing to do is to unpick stitches very carefully. Iron flat where the crease was, then if machine washable give them a wash or if dry cleaned get them dry cleaned. Then get son to put them on with shoes he will be wearing. Then use a pin to mark where your DS needs the hem. You need a good 1 inch hem. Once you know where you want them iron the hem in place before sewing.