I shorten quite a few pant and jean hems on a weekly basis. Most pants are sewed with a blind hem and chinos with a top stitch. Dark jeans without a wash on them are trimmed and top stitched with denim thread. But most jeans have a wash on them. It’s a process which leaves a light coloring on the hem that we are all familiar with. Unfortunately it is not easily duplicated at home and can be distinctly missing when jeans are shortened. After several washes the new hem can show signs of the similar lightening, but the best way to keep the original look is to keep the original hem. While saving hems is a common occurrence for me, trying to explain how that works and looks to someone who has never had their hems saved, can be hard to relate. Here are some pictures I took of the major steps in the process.
The hem is cut off and the extra length of denim removed. The two new edges are separately sewed with a serger to secure the threads. They are then pinned together with side seams matching up.
The zipper foot allows the stitches to get as close to the hem fold as possible. After the hem is reattached, a top stitch with matching thread keeps the new seam flat and the denim edges under the seam secured down. The result is a seam can be seen when looking closely but integrates itself and is barely noticeable from a distance. As you can see in the final picture, the hem blends back into the pant leg nicely.
