Shortening tricky trousers

[VaguelySkeletal]

I was seduced by the gorgeous colour and feel of a pair of cords, and by their fit on my belly and bum. So I bought them, even though they were far too long in the leg for me. I can shorten trousers.

But they flare out below the knee (bootcut?) and I need to take off 1.5-2.5" /3-6cm.

I usually wear straight leg cords/jeans, and I like them slightly long because then they don't ride up on my legs when I'm moving between sitting/squatting/kneeling - which I do a lot of in my work. So if these cords were straights, I would only shorten them by 1.5"/3cm. But as they are wide at the hem, I cannot - they would still drag on the floor, rather than sit rumpled on my shoe. And because of the flare I cannot just turn them up.

So how do I shorten them? I'm not bothered about the flare. Keeping it or otherwise. However, I know from experience that trying to take in part of a jeans-type seam leads to a point sticking out where the new seam crosses the old seam. How can I avoid that? Would keeping the flare and clipping chunks out of the turn-in work?

Please advise! My head is starting to go

Anybody?

I find a jeanamajig (aka "hump jumper" or seam leveller ) tool very useful when hemming jeans or bulky fabrics. It'll get you over the bulk of the seam without your poor machine getting stuck, so that'll sort that issue. You could also use a small hammer to flatten the seam once you've sorted out where the new fold goes.

weaverdee.com/products/seamjump

I'm assuming your trousers currently have a machine sewn hem and that you'd like to keep that, as it's more robust.

Cut off the excess fabric (leave yourself enough for a single turn up, say 1.5cm) and zig zag the raw edge (overlock if you have an overlocker machine). Turn up the fold and pin carefully so you're easing in the excess fabric as evenly as possible. I would match the side and inner leg seams first, then match the centre front and centre back legs and then just do what I could to ease the zig zagged edge in as well as possible.

Press really well before running the hems through your sewing machine. I'd try to stitch fairly close to the cut and zigzagged edge first, then do another line of stitching 5mm or so below it, as that'll give additional strength, especially if your fabric frays.

If your trousers were straight legged, then you could do the traditional double fold hem, but because these are shaped, there'll be a lot of bulk in that kind of hem, especially as you're having to ease the wider hem into the narrower leg.

Hope this helps!

My. Mind. Is. Blown.

Where has that jeanamajig been all my life? Utter, utter genius of a gadget. Thank you. Ordered!

So you recommend only a single turn-in for the hem, rather than narrowing the leg and doing the weird fold that retains the original hem? Corduroy frays dreadfully, and I don't have an overlocker.

Honestly, I'd try to avoid bulk as much as possible so I'd do a single fold.

An option to protect the raw edge, if you feel zig zag isn't enough, would be to use bias binding to cover it. Now I've thought of it, it would possibly be the best option in this case.

Mark where your new fold will be, then measure up 1.5cm (for your hem) and draw round the inside of each leg at this measurement. Using your sewing machine, stitch the bias binding just below this line, then cut away the excess fabric close enough that the turned up bias will cover the raw edges and enclose them fully. I'm rubbish at explaining but I've put a link at the end of my post that'll hopefully explain better!

Then just follow the easing in instructions above before sewing the hem by machine.

www.cucicucicoo.com/2017/02/how-to-hem-with-bias-tape/

I'm suggesting you place the bias further up from the folded edge of the hem, just for aesthetic reasons. I'm also suggesting you cut the fabric AFTER sewing the bias on, just to avoid horrible fraying.

Boas binding is an excellent idea. Thanks.