$5 Jeans and How to Hem Them

I don't normally do back to school shopping with my kids because I score deals all year round, but my teenage daughter really needed some jeans. For the last several years she has only worn Old Navy skinny jeans and they just don't last on her. After only a couple of months they would get holes in the knees and the seams would split. I think this is one of the problems with tight skinny jeans, but she would have none of my logic and was stubborn about only wearing Old Navy. This year I was able to talk her into trying some different brands! Yay!

We went to Forever 21 for their $7.90 skinny jeans that are always that price, but she ended up getting 3 pairs of jeans from the clearance rack for $5 each instead! 2 denim and 1 navy blue corduroy. Then we went to the thrift store and got some colored jeans for $5 each. That was it! Only 2 stores and we were done! I couldn't believe my luck. The great thing about thrift store shopping is that you have a big selection of different brands all in 1 store.

The only problem with ALL of the jeans is that they were very long on my short daughter. I have always been short, so this is a problem I worked out a long time ago.

How to hem jeans and keep the original hem:

1. Try on the jeans and pin them where you want them.

2. Measure. We needed 4" off these ones! Yikes!

3. Divide measurement in half and fold the jeans up to the halfway mark. That would be 2" for these jeans.

4. Sew as close to the original hem as you can.

5. Cut the extra off and do a zigzag stitch (try them on before cutting).

6. Fold in

7. Sew along the ditch of your new hem (This isn't necessary, but I think it holds the hem more flat).

8. Iron the hem flat

TaDa!

2 of the jeans had ripped belt loops, but I have a very easy fix for that and will link it here soon.