How to Shorten Jeans (Keep the Original Hem or Create a New One)

How to Shorten Jeans

Learning how to shorten jeans is one of the most useful clothing alteration skills. Whether your jeans are too long, dragging on the floor, or simply don’t fit your preferred style, shortening the hem can instantly improve their appearance and comfort. The most popular method is to shorten jeans while keeping the original hem, which preserves the factory finish and allows the jeans to look professionally altered. In this tutorial, you’ll learn several ways to shorten jeans, including preserving the original hem, creating a new hem, fraying the edge, hand sewing, and using hemming tape for a no-sew solution.

How to Shorten Jeans Tutorial for Beginners

Jeans come in different styles, from boot length to skinny and even flared jeans. There are tapered jeans, baggy jeans, all with different styles of fit and waist sizes or rise. The one thing they all have in common is a hem. 

Here are several ways to consider when shortening the hem of your jeans.

1. Keeping the original hem – This is good for kids where you may want to take the jeans down at a later stage as they grow
2. Cutting the original hem – This method will make the jeans look like they were made in this length. The best method for adult jeans!
3. Fraying the edges – Great for a trendy look!
4. Hand sewing – Ideal if you don’t have a sewing machine.
5. Hemming tape – This no-sew method is quick and easy.

Why Keep the Original Jeans Hem?

The original hem method is the most popular way to shorten jeans because it preserves the factory stitching, color variations, and worn appearance of the denim.

Benefits include:

• Maintains the original jeans look
• Easier than recreating factory topstitching
• Ideal for expensive jeans
• Can often be let down later
• Works for most jean styles

How to Shorten Jeans While Keeping the Original Hem

This is the best method to use when you want to keep your original hem. It is especially good when you want the option to let the length down later. Keeping the original hem also enables you to keep the original look of the jeans. It can often be hard to match jeans stitching.

Step 1 – Fitting the Jeans to Shorten

• Put your jeans on and turn up the hem on the outside of the jeans to the length you want the newly finished hem to be. Make sure you are wearing the shoes or heels that you will pair with the jeans.
• Once you have folded the jeans up pin the amount of fabric turned up in place and remove the jeans. Safety pins are better than regular pins for holding the hem in place as you won’t stab yourself trying to get the jeans off.
• The amount you have turned up will be on the right side of the jeans, but this is just for marking purposes.

Step 2 – Align and Pin

• Check the side seams of the jeans and line them up. 
• Match the sides to each other and fold the jeans to match the inner leg seams as well. 
• Ensure both legs are the same.
• Pin along the edge of the folded hem. This will mark your desired hem’s position.

• Open up the hem, being careful that the pins don’t fall out.
• Using fabric chalk or a removable marker, mark along the pin line.
• Remove the pins.

Step 3 – Marking and Folding

• Mark 1 inch ABOVE the pinline for jeans hems that are a standard 1/2 inch (12mm) wide. {If your original jeans hem is 3/4 inch then mark 1 1/2 inches highter than the pin line.}

• Fold the cuff of the jeans up again so the original hem, of the jeans meets the second higher marked line. (Yellow line in our case)
• Pin the hem all the way around using vertical pins.

Step 3 – Stitching the Shortened Jeans Hem

Sew a straight line right below the original hemline. Do not sew on the hem but just below it. (Using the free arm of your sewing machine will make this much easier.)

Step 4 – Removing Excess

At this point, you have two choices. 

OPTION #1 – HOW TO SHORTEN JEANS WITHOUT CUTTING

There are times you may want to shorten jeans without cutting off the excess. This is particularly important when shortening kids’ jeans where they are likely to grow taller quickly.

• Press the extra fabric up into the leg of the jeans. If the excess is quite wide, you can catch the new hem on the inside at the side seams with a couple of hand stitches.
• Leaving the fabric like this is best for kids who are growing as it allows you to let out the hem in a year or two.

OPTION #2 – CUT THE EXCESS

• If folding results in too much bulk, you can cut below the stitching and zigzag or serger the edges to prevent fraying. Press the seam upwards.

Step 5 – Press the Shortened Jeans Hem

• Turn the jeans the right way out and give the new hems a good press along the seam line.

Alternative Ways to Shorten Jeans

Making a New Hem

This method gives you a new double-fold hem that looks similar to the original.

• Prepare the jeans the same as steps 1 and 2 above.
• Mark a cutting line 1 inch (2.5cm) BELOW the pin line. (Note that this is different from method #1 where we marked above the pin line.)

• Cut the excess fabric along the lower marked line. (yellow in our case).

• Turn the jeans to the wrong side. Press up the raw edge by 1/2 inch (12mm)
• Press over the hem again by 1/2 inch (12mm). This will create a double hem where the raw edges are enclosed so they cannot fray.

• On the wrong side of the jeans, sew the hem with a straight stitch along the top of the fold.

TOPSTITCHING WITH THICK THREAD – If you are using a thick topstitching thread, you will sew on the right side instead of the inside as you would with regular thread. (Read how to topstitch.)

Press firmly with an iron and your jeans are good to go.

Shorten Jeans by Fraying

How about the frayed fabric look? Here is a way to shorten the hem of your jeans and keep them casually trendy. 

• Measure where you want the new hem of your jeans to be using steps 1 & 2 of method 1.
• Measure 1 inch (2.5cm) BELOW the marked pinline and cut across.
• The reason to cut across slightly lower than your desired hem is that the fraying edges tend to curl up and make your jeans appear shorter. I sometimes add even more than 1 inch. You can always cut the frayed edge shorter but you can’t add some back on if you miscalculate.

• Optional – Straight stitch along the pin line to limit the fraying.
• Pull a few threads out at the edge to start the fraying process. The rest will fray naturally as you wash and wear your jeans. You can speed the fraying process by using a seam ripper, pinking shears, or cutting strips.
• Read more about how to fray fabric.

Shorten Jeans by Hand Sewing

You can use method #1 or #2 and hand stitch instead of using a machine.

• Thread your hand sewing needle with the most suitable color for stitching the jeans. If you want the color to match the topstitching on jeans, choose an appropriate gold or orange thread. 
• The best hand stitch to use is a backstitch. This will form a neat and strong row of stitches along the hem stitch line. The front of a backstitch looks better than the back so you will want to sew on the right side (outside) of the fabric.

• If you are an absolute beginner sewer, then a small running stitch will also work. A running stitch looks the same on both sides so can be stitched on the inside.

How to Shorten Jeans With Hemming Tape

If you don’t have a sewing machine then you can use hemming tape to shorten your jeans. Hemming tape is a fusible tape with a strong glue that is activated by the heat of the iron.

• Use method #2 to cut the excess from the bottom of the jeans.
• Turn the jeans inside out and press up the raw edge by 1 inch (2.5cm) or the width of the hemming tape.
• Place the tape between the layers of the fold and press with an iron to activate the glue.
• Most brands of hemming tape recommend waiting before washing your jeans.
• Read my full article on how to use hemming tape.

Rolling Up Hems

For the casual look, you can simply roll up the bottom of the jeans to take up the extra fabric and create a casual turn-up. Do this with your jeans on, get the right measurements, and then take your jeans off and press in place. You may want to stitch on the inside of the turn-up just to secure the folds in place. 

Common Mistakes

• Using a Universal Needle – Denim is thick and can quickly damage standard needles. Use a denim needle for smoother stitching.
• Not Testing the Length While Wearing Shoes – The correct hem length depends on the shoes you plan to wear with the jeans.
• Skipping the Prewash – Denim can shrink after washing, leaving jeans shorter than expected.
• Sewing Too Quickly Over Thick Seams – Slow stitching reduces broken needles and skipped stitches.
• Cutting Excess Fabric Too Soon – Wear the jeans again before trimming away excess fabric permanently.

How to Shorten Jeans in Different Styles

Not all jeans are equal in style. Over the years jeans manufacturers have produced different leg styles. Here are some ideas of how to shorten the more unusual styles of jeans.

• Flared Jeans – Flared jeans have to look just right and rest on the shoes correctly to give the ultimate flared look. The best idea for flared jeans is to try them on with the shoes you will most likely wear them with. Then stand on a chair and get someone to measure exactly where you want the jeans to rest. Pin and measure the length carefully and sew according to method #2 either by machine or by hand.
• Boot Cut Jeans – The boot cut has a flare designed to fit over boots. The hem must be measured the same way as flared jeans with some help. The cutting and sewing of the hem are important because the hem needs to sit well over the boots. A simple hem pressed flat is the best type of hem for a pair of boot-cut denim jeans.
• Skinny Jeans – Skinny jeans typically fall on or just above your ankle to prevent them from bunching up.

How to Shorten Jeans FAQs

Pin for Later

How to Shorten Jeans – In Conclusion

Now you know how to shorten jeans using several different methods, from preserving the original hem to creating a new hem or even using a no-sew solution. For most people, keeping the original hem provides the best balance of appearance, durability, and ease. With careful measuring, the correct needle, and a little patience, you can alter jeans to the perfect length and achieve results that look professionally finished.

More Jeans Articles

• How to Fix a Hole in Jeans
• How to Distress Jeans
• How to Wash Jeans
• History of Jeans
• DIY Ripped Jeans
• Types of Jeans
• How to Cut Jeans into Shorts
• How to Shorten Jeans
• Hemming Jeans