Hem: Auditioning Possibilities

I washed the jeans with the hopes that the old hemlines would relax a bit. I was disappointed to see that they did not relax at all. So I ironed them on high heat with steam and some starch alternative.

I love this product! It's so much less sticky than spray starch and it smells nice.

I went through my bin of trims. I didn't find a lot of possibilities (Christmas ribbon and rick rack wasn't doing it for me) but I did find a few.

For some reason, this reads "tennis" to me. Perhaps with something else, as an edging?

This was a belt from something....It reads a bit too "sailor suit" for my taste. Shirley Temple, I am not.

So I decided to audition a few fabrics from my quilting stash.
 

 Boring....

 I think the scale is too big on this one.

These two photos are the same fabric, just folded differently for different effects.

Maybe an autumn feeling?

Nah, but this print did make me think of a technique. It's a quilting technique but it would be really interesting. French braids!

I could use lots of interesting fabrics together and not be limited to just one. I hate having to choose just one of anything!

I shall have to choose carefully though. I could see how this look could quickly become too "hippy chick." Not that there's anything wrong with hippy chicks, I just don't care to dress like one.

My First Project: Altering a Hem

It's the curse of the tall woman: I had a pair of wide leg jeans in my closet that I never really wore because they were too short.

I have a bit of experience hemming things, from sewing a few garments.  So how hard can it be to rehem a pair of pants? Ok, they're not trousers. They're stretch denim jeans. But it still can't be that hard, right?

After a bit of examination, I can see that ripping out the hem seam will be a relatively simple process. The hardest problem is the very stretchy, thick elastic thread. I pull out my handy, dandy seam ripper. Do you own one of these? If not, you should.

All I did was run that bad boy around the whole hemline until all the stitches were loose.

So here they are, with the hem let out completely.  This adds about five inches of total length, more than enough to make them non-high-waters!

But look at that lovely line where the previous hem was turned and pressed . Hmmm, how to hide that? I will have to consider. Trim? Fabric ink or paint? Permanent marker?

Next installment: Putting in a new hem.