How to Hem Pants: Measure, Mark, Sew (Step by Step)
Shortening pants is the most common job that comes through our alterations table. Not dresses, not curtains — pants. Most weeks it's sweatpants and jeans, and the reason is simple: brands cut long now. Levi's, Wrangler, Lee, Nudie, A.P.C., Uniqlo, Gap, Muji, Carhartt — almost everything ships at a 32 or 34 inseam, and a lot of people are a 29 or 30. The brand would rather you hem than send them back.
So here's my honest split, and then the how-to. If it's a normal pair of pants — cotton, chinos, sweatpants, work pants — hem them yourself. It's a machine straight stitch or twenty minutes of hand sewing, and I'll walk you through it below. If it's jeans, send them to us. Denim is where home hems go wrong, and I'll explain exactly why further down. And if it's technical outerwear pants — Arc'teryx, Patagonia, that kind of thing — read the note at the end before you touch them, because some of those can't be hemmed with a needle at all.
Start with the number, not the pants
Everything comes back to the inseam: crotch seam straight down the inside of the leg to the bottom edge. Don't measure on your body, measure a pair that already fits and copy that number. If you don't have one, put the shoes on that you'll actually wear with these pants and mark where you want the hem to land. Shoes matter — a running shoe and a leather shoe can be a half inch apart in sole height. There's a longer guide on how to measure inseam if you want the detail.
How much "break" you want is taste. No break (hem just kisses the shoe) looks right on slim and tapered legs. A half break, one soft fold at the front, is the safe default for dress pants. Full break is for wide legs and heavier fabric. Sweatpants and jeans mostly get no break or a little stacking. When in doubt go longer. You can take more off later; you can't add it back.
Hemming normal pants at home
This is for cotton, poly blends, chinos, sweatpants, work pants — anything that isn't denim and isn't lined.
What you need. Tape measure, fabric scissors, pins, an iron, matching thread, and a sewing machine or a hand needle. A seam ripper if there's an existing hem to take out.
1. Mark. Pants on, shoes on. Fold the extra up on the inside so the outside shows the finished length. Pin front, back and both sides on each leg. Walk, sit down once, stand back up. Pants ride up when you sit and a hem that's fine standing can feel short in a chair. Then take them off and check both legs measure the same from the crotch — they usually don't, because most of us stand crooked. Trust the tape, not the pin.
2. Cut. Take out the old hem, press the crease flat. From your new hemline, measure down 1 inch for lighter fabric, 1.5 inches for heavier dress pants — that's the allowance that folds under. Cut on that lower line, keeping the cut parallel to the old hem. On a tapered leg that's not the same as perpendicular to the side seam, and it's the mistake I fix most.
3. Press. Fold the raw edge up about 3/8 inch, press. Fold again on the hemline, press hard with steam. This is the step people skip and it's the one that decides whether the hem looks homemade. A pressed hem sews straight. An unpressed hem wanders and you'll see it from across the room.
4. Sew. Machine: straight stitch, 2.5–3 mm, from the inside, close to the folded edge. Hand: a slip stitch or blind hem stitch, catching one or two threads of the outer fabric each time so nothing shows outside. For sweatpants with a ribbed cuff, you're usually better off opening the cuff, cutting the leg, and reattaching the cuff — the cuff is the look, keep it.
5. Press again, put them on, check both legs. Done. Thirty minutes once you've done it twice.
If you have no machine and no patience, iron-on hem tape works on cotton blends for a season. It stiffens the hem and doesn't like hot washes. Fine for a fix, not a finish.
Why I tell people to send jeans in
Denim is a different animal, for three reasons.
Thread and needle change with the fabric. A 10 oz stretch denim and a 16 oz raw denim don't take the same needle or the same thread. Use regular thread on heavy denim and it snaps or looks thin; use topstitch thread on light stretch denim and it puckers. Getting the gold or tan topstitch to match the factory stitching is a separate problem again. We keep a range of denim needles and thread weights on the table because no two pairs are the same.
The side seam junction. Where the hem crosses the outseam and inseam, you're sewing through six to eight layers of folded denim. A home machine either stalls, skips stitches, or breaks the needle there. The join has to be flattened with a hammer or a clapper before it goes under the foot, and the stitch has to stay even going up and over that bump. This one spot is what separates a hem that looks factory from one that looks fixed.
The original hem. Most jeans now come with a chain-stitched hem and a fade line at the bottom. Cut that off and sew a plain hem and the jeans look new at the bottom and worn everywhere else. The fix is what we call an original hem (some shops say European or euro hem): cut a band of denim out above the hem, sew the factory hem back on, press the join flat. The wash line, the roping, the stitching all stay. It looks like the jeans came that length. It's fiddly, the two edges have to line up to the millimetre, and there's no second attempt if it twists. This is the most common "can you fix what I did" job we get.
Our jeans hemming starts at $20 for a regular hem and $28 for an original hem. Standard pants are $18 if you'd rather not do them yourself. Send a photo and the inseam you want, you get a firm price within 48 hours, and they're ready in 3–5 business days. Drop off by appointment in Kerrisdale, or mail them from anywhere in BC.
A note on Arc'teryx, Patagonia and technical pants
We get asked about these a lot and the answer is: it depends on the seam. A lot of outdoor and sportswear pants — shell pants, softshells, some running tights — aren't sewn at the hem. They're glued, taped or heat-bonded, and the hem is sealed for waterproofing. Those need a heat press and bonding tape to shorten properly, and a needle through a sealed seam breaks the seal. Topology Alterations doesn't offer heat-press or bonded-seam work yet, so for those we'll tell you straight and point you elsewhere. If the pants have a normal stitched hem — most Arc'teryx casual and climbing pants do, and so do most hiking pants — they hem like any other pant and we're happy to take them. Send a photo of the inside of the hem and we'll tell you which it is.
Working with us
Photo of the pants, the inseam you want (or a photo with the hem pinned), and where you are. Email info.topologyclothing@gmail.com, use the contact form, or message us through our Google business page. Prices for everything we hem — pants, jeans, dresses, skirts, curtains — are on the alterations page.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to hem pants in Vancouver?
Shops around the city run roughly $15–35. Ours are $18 for standard pants, $20 for a regular jeans hem, $28 for an original hem on jeans.
Can I hem jeans at home?
You can put a plain hem on jeans at home if you have a machine that will take a denim needle and you're fine with a new-looking bottom edge. The original hem is the part I'd leave to a shop.
How much can pants be shortened?
As much as you want on a straight leg. On a tapered leg, past about 3 inches the new hem is visibly wider than the old one because you're cutting higher up where the leg is bigger.
Can pants be made longer?
Only by what's folded inside the current hem. Usually 1–2 inches on dress pants, under an inch on jeans and sweatpants.
Should I wash jeans before hemming?
Yes if they're raw or unwashed. They can shrink up to an inch in length on the first wash. Pre-washed jeans are fine as they are.
Do you hem Lululemon or Arc'teryx pants?
If the hem is stitched, yes. If it's bonded or heat-sealed, not yet — we don't have heat-press equipment. Send a photo of the inside of the hem and we'll tell you.
Topology Alterations is the alterations side of Topology, a Vancouver small-batch clothing studio. Pant, jeans, dress and curtain hemming by appointment in Kerrisdale or by mail across BC. See services and prices or get a free quote.