Michele says:

I have come to the realization that sharing my willingness to toss old socks has made me out to be exactly what I’m not: wasteful.  I’ve darned a slew of sweaters and I’ve frozen enough manager’s special groceries to feed the Army and the Navy.  I’ve never, ever missed an opportunity to haggle and (perhaps needless to say) I always shop the clearance rack when my family needs clothes.  I try not to spend more than $20 on any given article of clothing, which means that my pickings are often slim.  Since I’m pretty handy at sewing, however, I shop with the knowledge that many things can be changed.  Tacky embellishments can be removed, an undershirt can make a top more modest, and anything can be hemmed without looking hemmed.

Yes, even jeans.

I live in the NYC metro area where it seems that every new purchase is sent to a tailor for tweaking.  When I learned that people spend $20 per pair of jeans to have them hemmed without looking hemmed, I giggled; it’s a job so simple that even a novice hand sewer can get it done in less than 30 minutes!  So, stop stepping on the hems of your jeans—or worse, settling for an obviously modified hem—and let’s get stitching.

How to Hem Jeans Using the Original Hem

What You’ll Need:

• pair of jeans that need hemming (no flares, please)
• tape measure
• matching thread (I recommend blue denim thread)
• medium-thick needle
• chalk
• seam gauge (optional, but highly recommended)
• sharp scissors
• pinking shears
• straight pins
• steam iron

Step One: If you don’t know your inseam length, measure a pair of well-fitting trousers from crotch to ankle (as we did in the first hand hemming post).  I don’t recommend measuring your own inseam any other way.  Add half of an inch seam allowance to your measurement; write the number down to avoid forgetting.  For example: If your inseam is 32”, your inseam for hemming jeans using this method is 32” + ½” = 32 ½”

Measure the inseam of the jeans that you are hemming, then subtract your inseam plus seam allowance to figure out how much you need to remove.  For example: If my too long trousers are 34 inches, I would subtract 32 1/2 inches from 34 inches and come up with 1 1/2 inches of length that need to be removed.

Step Two: Use your seam gauge to measure the width of the hem.  Subtract that number from your inseam.  For example: If you need to shorten the jeans by 1 ½ inches and your original hem is ½ inch wide, the amount of fabric you’ll need to remove is 2 inches from the bottom of the hem.  Use chalk to mark this spot on your jeans.

Measure again to check your work, then cut off the excess length using pinking shears.  Save the hem!

Use your seam gauge to measure a ¼” seam allowance above the existing hem.  Use chalk to mark this spot on your jeans.  Measure again for accuracy, then cut off the excess length with your pinking shears.

Step Three: Turn the jeans inside out (remember to turn the removed hem inside out, too).  Making sure that the side seams match up, pin the right side of the jeans to the right side of the hem.

Step Four: Thread your needle and knot the thread.  Insert the needle through the wrong side of the jeans as close to on the original hem stitch as possible without covering the original stitching.

Make a straight stitch, reinserting the needle about 1/8 of an inch away.

Repeat these straight stitches all the way around the hem of the jeans, remembering to stay as close to the original hem as possible.

When you reach the end, reinforce your work as we did in the straight stitch post.

Step Five: Tie off the thread and flatten the new hem with your hands.  It will look a little funny at this point, but it’s nothing a little heat can’t fix.

Step Six: Repeat steps one through five on the second leg.

Step Seven: Preheat your iron and then firmly press the new hems.  Turn the jeans right side out and press the hem a second time.

Should you feel so inclined, you can use your pinking shears to trim the excess seam allowance.  You’re done—and you never have to pay a tailor or dry cleaner to hem your jeans again!

Michele Newell is a housewife turned blogger turned Home Ec 101 contributor.  You can read her near daily ramblings at Dreams Unreal.

Michele says:

The decision to mend vs. replace an item is often surprisingly difficult.  While being wasteful is rarely a good thing, there comes a point in every object’s lifetime where you must do a little cost benefit analysis or CBA.  (I know this is Home Ec 101 and not Business 101, but bear with me here.)  While a consulting firm’s CBA may be complex and tedious, yours need not be.  All you have to do is ask yourself three simple questions before you begin any repair: What is this item worth (either monetarily or sentimentally)?  How long will it take to fix?  And, is this repair worth my time?

Take, for example, a pair of my husband’s socks with a hole in the heel.  What are they worth?  Less than $2 new.  How long will it take me to fix the hole?  About 15 minutes.  Is this repair worth my time?  Nope!  That means that holey socks are always destined for the trash or rag bag in my household.  Due to the fact that these questions are fairly personal, however, your answers probably won’t be the same as mine—as evidenced by the fact that some of you have told me that you want to learn how to darn socks.

I’ll admit that I was initially baffled at your requests, but I reminded myself that your CBA is not my CBA.  Begrudgingly, I’m not telling you to get new socks.  I am, however, encouraging you to live a little and spoil yourself with a nice multi-pack of socks from a big box store.  Even if you heed my advice, though, the threadbare socks you have now are going to have to last at least until you get your tootsies to the store.  So, today we’re going to learn how to fix those aged socks, darn it.  (Pun totally intended.)

Before You Get Started:

Make sure you have read the Home Ec 101 posts “How to Repair an Unraveled Seam” and “Meet Frankenseam AKA The Whip Stitch“.  You also need to be comfortable with the whip- and the straight stitches.

Remember, you’ll be using thread to close the hole in your formerly seamless sock.  The end result may be itchy, lumpy, and/or uncomfortable.  Since you’re working on the right side of the fabric, your repaired sock will probably be unsightly; using a coordinating thread will make the repair much less visible.

What You’ll Need:

• socks with holes in them
• 1 ½-2 inch long needle
• matching thread
• darning egg (or tennis ball)
• sharp sewing scissors

Step One: Insert the darning egg/tennis ball into your sock, making sure that it is positioned under the hole.  Trim any loose threads or scraggly edges from the hole, but don’t over trim!

Step Two: Sew a loose whip stitch along the length of the hole (plus a quarter inch extra at the top and bottom).  This is where having a long needle really comes in handy!

Step Three: Once you reach the bottom of the hole, gently pull both ends of the thread in order to tighten your stitches.  Don’t over-tighten or your repair will be lumpy.

Step Four: Whip stitch your way back up the hole, using the empty spaces between your first set of stitches as a guide of sorts.  Remember that your end result should look like the rungs of a ladder, rather than the X’s of a Frankenseam.

Step Five: Use your hands to flatten out the whip stitch.  Reinforce your work by sewing three columns of straight stitches over the row of whip stitches.  The end result will look kind of like a grid or, if we’re still going with the ladder analogy, the sides of the ladder… if a ladder had three sides.

Step Six: Tie off your thread.  Here’s the not-so-pretty end result, made even less pretty by the contrasting thread.

The inside looks much neater, but that doesn’t mean you should do your repair on the wrong side of the sock.  Remember, you want the inside of your repair to be neat and smooth so that your feet are as happy as possible.

So, there you have it Home Eccers: you know how to darn a sock. As an added bonus, you’ve just made grandmothers everywhere proud. Darn on!

Michele Newell is a housewife turned blogger turned Home Ec 101 contributor.  You can read her near daily ramblings at Dreams Unreal.

Michele says:

How have you been liking Home Ec 101’s recent sewing posts?  Have they inspired you to finally tackle that mending pile?  Are you rocking oh-so stylishly patched jeans?  Or are you the smart kid in class, bored and wondering when we’ll do a project that doesn’t rely on the plain old straight stitch?  If you’re one of our many resident smarties, be prepared to be excited!  Well, as excited as you can be about sewing, which in my case is really excited!  But before we get started on our new project, I’m going to teach you a very handy, super easy stitch.  It’s so easy, in fact, that you probably already know it!  It’s wonderful for making strong, albeit slightly unsightly, seams and—bonus!!—its name always gets me singing: whip stitch.  (Whip stitch good.)

The Whip Stitch:

Step 1: Thread your needle and knot your thread as you learned in steps 4, 5, and 6 the first sewing post, How to Repair an Unraveled Seam.  My pictures show contrasting doubled thread (four strands instead of two), but it’s only to make the stitches easier for you to see.

Step 2: Line up the edges of your two pieces of fabric.  Insert the needle through both layers of fabric from bottom to top.  Bring the thread around the edges of the fabric to help prevent future fraying.

Step 3: Insert the needle into the bottom of the fabric about 1/8” from your last stitch.  Again, stitch from bottom to top, making sure the thread “whips” around the fabric’s edge.  Repeat until you get to the end of your fabric.

Step 4: Turn your work so that the bottom layer is now the top layer.  Reinforce your stitching by repeating step 3, except in the opposite direction.  These new stitches shouldn’t cover the ones made in step 3, and your reinforced stitches should look a bit like X’s/crosses.  Don’t worry if your fabric’s edges start to roll, as it helps keep the seam strong.

Feel free to practice until you’re comfortable with the whip stitch.  Once you’ve got it down, you’re ready to tackle our next repair: the frankenseam.  Have you ever, say, caught the pocket of pajamas on a chair or snagged a shirt on a loose nail?  If so, you know the seemingly irreparable tears that result.  Now that you know the whip stitch, however, those snags and rips are a thing of the past.  Sure, you’re going to have some pretty wonky looking repair jobs, but if enough of us mend our clothes instead of tossing them, maybe we’ll end up making sustainablility the new black!

What You’ll Need:

• Clothes with a tear not on the seam
• Matching thread
• Pinking shears
• Sharp sewing scissors
• Fine tipped all purpose needle

Step One:  Turn your torn article of clothing inside out.  Use your pinking shears to carefully trim around the tear in order to prevent future fraying.

Step Two: Thread your needle and knot the thread just like you did before.

Step Three: Working on the wrong side of the fabric, pinch the opposite sides of the tear together so that you have two layers of fabric.  Start sewing by inserting the needle from bottom to top through both layers of fabric.  To continue, whip stitch down the length of the tear.

Step Four:  Reinforce your stitching as you did in step four of the whip stitch lesson (above).  Remember that it doesn’t have to be pretty!

Step Five: Tie off your thread, turn your project right side out, and admire your work!

Michele Newell is a housewife turned blogger turned Home Ec 101 contributor.  You can read her near daily ramblings at Dreams Unreal.

Michele says:

I’m going to be honest: I’m not the most creative person.  The first post that I wrote about sewing was inspired by a conveniently timed rip in a pillow.  I gulped when I realized that Home Eccers are interested in learning more mending techniques.  As a childless housewife whose husband spends his days behind a desk, I simply don’t have much mending to do beyond a fallen hem or dropped button.  (Lest you think I don’t have the repair skills to tackle tougher projects, I feel compelled to mention that my husband spent his undergraduate years doing manual labor, while I spent those years mending the constantly torn clothes that resulted.)

All of that to say: I got to the point where I was actively considering buying torn trousers at a thrift store.  Not excited by the idea of spending money on torn clothes, I decided to do one more look through my long forgotten drawer of blue jeans—and it was there that I found the answer to my problem.

While I haven’t worn trousers in the past couple of years, I used to wear jeans every day.  Since I only loved a few of my pairs of jeans, those few pairs got more than a little torn up, and I chose not to do anything about the holes.  (Give me a break.  They were stylish then!)  Given the fact that ratty jeans are most decidedly not stylish, I wouldn’t wear them out of the house if you paid me.  So, I figured now would be the perfect time to teach you how to mend a hole in a pair of jeans.

Before we get started, I have a couple of warnings.  First, the instructions are written based on the assumption that you’ve read the Home Ec 101 post How to Repair an Unraveled Seam, so if you haven’t, read it before you continue.  Second, this technique is best used on smaller holes.  In my experience, it doesn’t work as well on large knee holes and, unfortunately, it is not a miracle cure.  Your jeans are torn and will never look new again.  I’m sorry.    It’s just one of those facts of life.  Don’t worry, though!  Once you see the results, your old favorite jeans may just become your new favorite jeans.

Home Eccers, thread your needles, and let’s get mendin’!

What You’ll Need:

• one pair of holey jeans
• one pair of jeans you don’t mind cutting up (or a half yard of denim)
• pinking shears (not optional)
• sewing scissors
• straight pins
• a fine tipped, large eyed needle
• thread, matching or contrasting

Step 1: Measure the hole that needs to be patched, plus an inch on each side.  Use your pinking shears to cut an appropriately sized patch out of your scrap jeans.  Be sure to save the scrap jeans for future repairs!  Lay the patch over the hole to double check the size.

Step 2: Take the jeans you’re mending, turn them inside out, then lay them flat on a large, flat surface (may I recommend a clean floor?)  Place the patch wrong side up over the hole on the jeans.  Making sure neither the jeans nor patch are wrinkled, carefully place pins around the edges of the patch.  Make sure you don’t poke your pin through both layers of the jeans!  Being careful not to poke your fingers with the pins, turn the jeans right side out.

Step 3: To make your thread strong enough to patch jeans, measure out an arm’s length of thread four times over.  Carefully line up all four ends of the threads and lick them before twisting the end of the threads together to make something like embroidery floss.  Thread and knot your needle as you learned in steps 4, 5, and 6 the last sewing post.  Once you’re done, you should have “thread” that’s eight strands thick.  If you can’t manage to get all four threads into the eye of your needle, you can use three or two strands of thread, but please don’t use just one!

Step 4: As we did in step 7 of our last project, start your stitching from the wrong side of the jeans to hide the knot.  Be sure to keep your stitches about a half an inch away from the tear to allow for future unraveling.  If you’re not a handy freehand sewer, feel free to use a regular ol’ piece of chalk (or a pencil) to draw a guideline around the hole. Don’t worry, it will easily wash out.

Straight stitch around the hole (on top of your guideline, if you’re using one).  If, during your sewing, you find that the fabric between your stitches looks puckered or bunched, gently pull on the fabric to loosen the stitches.  Be sure to check for puckering often; the sooner you fix it, the easier it will be.

When you get to the end do not reinforce your work as we did in step 9 of the seam repair; the dashed stitches look a lot nicer, in my opinion, and the “reinforced” thread makes one pass strong enough.  Turn your jeans inside out and knot your thread.  Remove the pins and put them away before you continue.  (Pins hurt when you step on them.  Ask how I know!)

Step 5: Use your pinking shears to cut the excess off the patch.  Leave about a third of an inch to allow for any future fraying (though there shouldn’t be much, if any, thanks to the awesomeness that is pinking shears).

Turn the jeans right side out and admire your work.  The hole shouldn’t fray beyond the stitching, and the contrasting thread gets a surprising number of compliments (and questions about where you found those unique jeans).  The repair may be obvious, but it will hold up until you decide to replace your jeans—and who knows?  That may not be until your jeans have turned into one big patch!

Michele Newell is a housewife turned blogger turned Home Ec 101 contributor.  You can read her near daily ramblings at Dreams Unreal.