The staff of the Newton Falls Public Library has their own memories of children complaining about the appearance of clothing after shortening or alterations, and can understand a mother wanting to be frugal.
We found a variety of instructions for hemming different types of clothing and fabrics in sewing books on our shelves, such as the “Reader’s Digest Complete Guide to Sewing,” however, none seemed to deal specifically with blue jeans or denim. From our shared Clevnet catalog, our patron placed a hold on the book “How to Make Pants and Jeans That Really Fit.”
In the event this book does not deal with alterations, we searched online for the words “hemming blue jeans.” There were many video tutorials available, but our patron wanted to have printed sheets to which she could refer. www.instructables.com/id/Hemming-Jeans-the-easy-way had instructions which included cutting off the bottom of the jeans to shorten them, adding a decorative backstitch with gold thread, and roughing up the edges with sandpaper to give them a more commercially manufactured look. The websites, Make It and Love It [www.makeit-loveit.com/2011/08/altering-jeans-shorter-with-identical-hem.html] and Just Something I Made [http://justsomethingimade.com/2009/06/hemming-distressed-jeans] had similar instructions for hemming the jeans while maintaining the original bottom edge. Our patron liked the option of folding up some fabric and stitching closely to the original finished edge. As her children grew, she could let down the hem and make the jeans longer. If the hem does not need to be re-let down, the excess fabric can be cut off and the edges finished. Many websites also suggested using a denim needle in the machine to make sewing easier and to reduce the risk of a broken needle.
For answers to your questions, visit the Newton Falls Public Library, 204 S. Canal Street, Newton Falls or phone 330-872-1282. For information about all the free library programs or hours, visit our website at www.newtonfalls.org or our Facebook page, www.facebook.com/NewtonFallsLibrary.
