Speed bump - solved -

With a little LOT of help from my friends -

Who suggested splitting the seams - and hiding the "difference" in the folded up hem -

And it worked!! - THANKS!! - ;))

Hemming "tapered" pants is definitely NOT in my comfort zone -

I used to sew my own clothes YEARS ago -

But I remember getting the whole thing done -

Whatever it was -

Including "setting-in" sleeves and inserting zippers -

And then setting it aside because it needed to be hemmed -

For some reason - I always disliked that last part -

Guess those were my first UFOs - LOL - ;))

Anyway - back to the blue pants -

I reinforced the "inseam" seam at the fold line - and took out the seam below it -
I figured I would hide whatever I did in the "inside" seam as opposed to the one that shows on the "outside" of the pants leg -

Folded it up -

And up again -

All the way around - then realized that the "seam" part was funky -
Those raw edges needed to be fixed -

So I unfolded everything - and folded in the raw edges and stitched them down -

And folded them back up - not perfect - but tidier than the first try -

I started pinning from the "outside" leg seam -

Up to the "inside" seam -

And started back at the "outside" seam again -
And pinned in the other direction -
Until I got to the "inside" seam -
You can see the "gap" -

Basted that down - at the top fold -

Pressed it - to see if it was going to lie flat - and it did - YAY!! -

The inside looks a little funky -

But you don't see it from the outside - so it works for me- LOL - ;)

Blind-stitched the hem - of the first leg -

And then took a break for dinner and wrote up yesterday's post -

Today - I did the other leg and took some additional photos to fill in the blanks in the ones I took yesterday -

When I sewed the "basting" line - I did it the "old-fashioned" way -

Before we had "free-arm" sewing machines - we would turn the pants leg right-side out - and sew from the inside of the "tube" - like so -

I started at one side of the "gap" - and stitched around to the other end -

My sewing machine (Brother SQ9185) has a "blind-hem" stitch and a special "blind-hem" foot -

So I folded the basted hem the "recommended" way and used the metal bar in the middle to follow along the basted fold -

There's a "gap" in the stitching -

But it's not that noticeable from the "Right" side - and it's at the "inside" seam -
so no one is going to see it anyway -

All nice and pressed - and flat -

Take out the basting stitches -

And it's not perfect - but it's DONE!! - LOL - ;))

These are the trimmings from some of the pants that I hemmed. It's amazing to me the different lengths the various manufacturers make their pants. There was NO way I could just take an inch or two off the bottom since the "bottom" was different on all of them -

MEASURING TIP - When she first brought over the pants she wanted me to hem - I asked her to also bring a pair of pants that fit her - lengthwise. I measured the INSEAM on that pair - and used that as my guide. I turned each pair of pants inside-out and measured the INSEAM of each leg - individually - and drew a chalk line at the "bottom fold" line. Then I measured 3" down from that and drew the "cut" line. After cutting - that allowed me a double-fold 1-1/2" hem. I folded the cut edge up to the "bottom fold" chalk line and pressed it - then folded it again on the "bottom fold" chalk line - to enclose the cut edge. And it seemed to work - she said they all fit just fine - ;))

The Interweave Quilt also got another four rows sewn yesterday -

Today I want to play with the Interweave Quilt some more -

While I think about what I want to do with all of those yummy triangles that Frog Quilter so graciously sent me - ;))



Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -