Top - GAP | Jeans - Levi's (size down, more sizes here and they are on sale!) | Shoes - Coach (similar here) | Bag - Proenza Schouler | Sunglasses - Illesteva (similar here) | Bracelet - Eddie Borgo (similar here)
Finding jeans to fit my inseam is nearly impossible. Even when jeans say they are ankle length or cropped, they are often still too long. For height reference, I am 5'4" but have an incredibly long torso and even a 27" inseam can be too long on me. In fact, the Levi's that I am wearing in this post claim to have a 27" inseam and I still had to cut them! For years I got my jeans hemmed at a tailor but after 2 pairs came back shorter than I would have liked, I decided to take things into my own hands. I cut the hem of a pair of old jeans I hardly ever wore just to practice and surprisingly it came out perfect! Since then, I have cut almost every single pair of jeans I own unless the hem is short enough or has a distinct distressing that I don't want to ruin (like these). I am by no means an expert on the matter and there is no real science to how I do it, but I thought I would share my tips and what works for me.
1. Practice on a pair of jeans that you don't mind destroying in case things go awry.
2. Use a sharp pair of scissors or garment shears. I myself use a pair of scissors but probably should just stop being lazy and buy shears. Ha!
3. I fold the jeans together long ways so the legs line up together. This way I am cutting both sides at the same time and there is less chance of either side being uneven.
4. I start by cutting just above the hem and then try them on.
5. If I still want them shorter, I only cut a small bit each time until I get the desired length. (I normally eyeball it, but if I had to guess it may be 1/2 inch at a time) When the fabric frays, it can shrink up a tiny amount so I always take that into consideration as well.
6. Be careful not cut too small of a portion because you run the risk of having the fabric fold in while cutting and ending up with two different lengths on each leg. This happened to me once and I had to keep cutting to even them out which resulted in them being too short. Womp, womp.
7. Once you have the length you want, throw them in the dryer (I typically put them in for 20 minutes). This normally frays most of my jeans adequately, however in the case that the denim doesn't fray as well as you would like get them very wet and then put them in the dryer again. Wet denim tends to fray a tad bit differently than dry.
8. Usually that's all I need to do, but in a few cases I will pull at the hem with my fingers to loosen up a few strands to distress it even more.
That's it! I'm surely not reinventing the wheel with my tips but it could be helpful if you want to try it for the first time. As you wear the jeans, the hem will continue to fray more which is even better. Since I am doing it by hand, the hems are never going to exactly match up and there may be one leg that is the tiniest bit longer than the other. However the difference is always so small and never noticeable so I learned to allow them to be a bit imperfect. I will link a few blog posts with jeans I have cut myself so you can see the finished look of them. Click here, here, here, here, here and here to see all the different style of jeans that I cut. All the hems look different because every single pair of jeans is a different weave, thickness or fabric which affects how it frays.
Hope you found this helpful and give it a try yourself. Once you get the hang of it, you will end up wanting to cut all your jeans. Ha!
Photos by Paula Bartosiewicz
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