Handy with a sewing machine

So, I know how to sew. Admittedly, I am not the best seamstress ever. But, I know enough to be handy. This is incredibly important because I'm pretty short; nearly every pair of pants I posses have been hemmed (not always by me).

So, I purchased a new pair of scrubs the other day. They only had medium scrub bottoms, and I usually take a small, but I thought, "why not, they're scrub bottoms." It's not like they're supposed to be super fitted anyway. I knew I would have to hem them, no big surprise there.

With my mother's help, we got a hem length figured out. Note to all: do not attempt to figure out how much to take off by yourself, bending over to pin the pants will always distort the length. Anyway, the pants were also much looser through the thighs than they appeared in the store, so my mom suggested taking that in a little, too.

This is the promotional photo for the bottoms- note the slit at the ankle.

It took me a little while to figure out exactly how I was going to proceed. I eventually decided it would be best to start by creating the new split, then creating the new hem. This entire process was completed working with the pants in-side-out. First, I hardily stitched across the highest point of the new slit-to-be. Then, I used my seam ripper to remove the vertical stitching between the top of the old slit and the top of the new slit. Next, I sewed down the finished portions of the old vertical seam of the slit to each respective side (mimicking how it was originally done). This gave it the finished look you see in my picture.

My finished slit.

Next, the new hem was pinned in place by measuring "up" (away from the feet and towards the seat of the pants) the amount we decided to remove, and placing horizontal pins. Every time I put a pin in, I measured before and after to be sure. Using my beloved sewing machine, I put in a 1" straight stitch from one end of the slit to the other.

This left me with about three extra inches of fabric still attached to the inside of the legs. So, I selected a programmed stitch from my sewing machine and stitched close to the hem, but not on it, between the new hem and the portion I was needing to cut off. This was done to prevent unravelling of the fabric, which could have a negative impact after a few washes.

After adding stitch and removing excess fabric.

Then, after trying the pants on with the shoes I wear to work, I took my nice pair of Fiscar scissors and trimmed off the old hem.

In order to conservatively remove some of the excess fabric around the thighs, I used the method my grandmother always used in cooking, best described as: "It takes about this much." In other words, I didn't really use a measurement. While wearing the pants, I decided that if I rolled the side seam under (towards the butt) two times on each side I would get a more fitted look, but still not fitted. So, I folded the hem over itself twice and tacked it down. It did help a lot, but after wearing them for a day I've decided I need to take in a little more still.

A close up of the hem.

A finished view from the top/front.

All in all, I consider it a success! Enough so to encourage me to move forward with my next sewing project, a designer dress that I will be knocking off all on my own, without a published pattern or anything!

side note: all pictures on this post were taken with my iPhone 4, some had a flash, some didn't, not the best photos.