Hemming Trousers and Jeans When the Cut Is Wide

Shortening a wide-leg trouser is not the same job as shortening a straight one. When the leg is narrow, taking length off the bottom barely changes how it hangs. When the leg is wide, the hem is often the widest part of the leg opening, and cutting it away changes the silhouette, the balance and the way the fabric moves as you walk.

Add the rise and the leg width that plus-size patterns commonly use, and the hem becomes a decision rather than an afterthought. The good news is that it is a decision you can make properly, in a fixed order, before any fabric is cut.

Length is a relationship with your shoes

Trouser length is not an absolute measurement. It is a relationship between the hem and the shoe, and it only exists once a shoe is on the foot.

Put the shoes on before you pin anything, and choose the pair you will wear most often with that trouser. A wide leg that skims the floor in flat shoes will pool in heels, and a hem set for heels may trail in flats and fray. If you genuinely intend to wear two very different heel heights, then one pair of trousers cannot serve both without a compromise.

As a working definition: a hem that just touches the top of the shoe, breaking slightly, is the most forgiving. A hem that clears the ground by a small margin is cleaner but less tolerant of a change of shoe. A hem that pools sits on the floor and gathers dust.

The hem is usually not level

Most tailored trousers, and many plus-size patterns, are cut with the hem edge slanted so that when the trouser is worn, the hem sits parallel to the floor. The back of the leg has to travel further over the seat and the calf, so if the hem were cut level in the flat pattern, the back hem would hang lower than the front once worn.

This means you cannot measure a hem accurately with the trousers laid flat. The correct test is on the body, with the trousers on and the shoes on, checking the hem all the way round. A helpful trick is to stand on a hard floor and have someone mark the intended hem with pins while you stand still. If you are marking for yourself, use a mirror and check from the side as well as the front.

If the hem measures level on the hanger but sits unevenly on the body, the problem is the slant, not the length.

Why a wide leg behaves differently

Two measurements govern how a wide leg falls.

The first is the leg opening: the circumference of the hem. The second is the point where the leg is widest, which on a wide cut is often at or near the hem. Shortening the leg removes the part that flares, so the new opening at the cut line is narrower than the finished hem was. This is the effect most people are surprised by.

Take a wide leg in and shorten it, and you can end up with something closer to a straight leg, or with a taper that fights the drape of the fabric. Whether that is acceptable depends on how the pattern was drawn. A well-drafted wide leg usually keeps the leg width nearly constant from the knee down, in which case the effect is small. A leg that flares towards the hem loses the flare.

The second factor is the drop, the distance between the crotch seam and the waist, and the width of the thigh. A deep drop and a full thigh push fabric outward, and that outward push travels down the leg. It is one reason a wide leg that looks correct on a hanger can look quite different on a body. No hem can fix this; it can only be accounted for when choosing the cut.

Three ways to finish a hem

The finish is a functional choice, not only a visual one, and each one behaves differently on a wide leg.

• Original hem, kept. The existing hem is removed with some fabric above it, then reattached. This preserves the factory stitching, the fading at the edge of a denim hem, and the original shape of the opening. It only works if the amount being removed is not so large that the removed section would sit above the knee, and it is best on narrow-to-moderate hems.
• Blind hem, turned and stitched by machine. The raw edge is neatened, the hem allowance is turned up and secured with a stitch that is nearly invisible from the outside. On a wide leg this is often the cleanest result, because it distributes the hem weight evenly and does not draw the eye.
• Topstitched hem. The hem is turned and finished with a visible line of stitching, often in a contrast thread on denim. It is the most robust and the easiest to shorten again later, but the visible line changes the proportion of the leg and can read as heavy on a very wide cut.

Whichever is chosen, the weight of a wide hem matters. A deep hem allowance on a heavy fabric holds the bottom of the leg straight and gives the drape its shape. Trimming the allowance away to save bulk can make a wide leg hang flatter and look thinner, which is usually the opposite of what was wanted.

Measuring for a tailor

If the work is going to someone else, the measurements you give decide the result more than the skill of the sewing. Prepare the following.

• The shoe you will wear with the trouser, so the length can be set with it on the foot.
• The finished length you want, measured on the body from the waistband to the intended hem, along the side seam.
• The finished length along the inside of the leg, from the crotch seam to the hem, which is the measurement a machinist may prefer to work from.
• The desired hem opening, in circumference, if you want to keep or alter the leg width.
• Whether a slanted hem exists and how much it should be, described in your own words rather than as a number.
• A note on whether you want the original hem preserved.

A brief written down is worth more than a verbal one, because the person doing the work cannot see the body and the shoe in front of them.

When to leave the hem alone

Hemming is not always the right answer. A few situations are best left as they are.

• The trouser is only slightly long and pools by a small amount, which often disappears when the shoe is on.
• The cut is a deliberate flare or a curved hem, where shortening would remove the shape that makes it work.
• The fabric is a delicate knit with a finished edge that would be impossible to reproduce, and the existing hem is part of the design.
• Removing the length would take the leg above the knee, or move a detail such as a slit or a vent, which is a redesign rather than a hem.

Where the trouser is right in every other respect and only the length is wrong, hemming is one of the most economical alterations available, because it touches nothing that carries the garment’s balance. Where the length is wrong because the rise is wrong, no amount of hemming will help.