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The Sew What’s New Archive

This archived content is from Mary Wilkins’ sewing and quilting message board “Sew What’s New,” which was retired in August 2007. It is being provided by “Sew What’s Up,” which serves as the new home for many members of “Sew What’s New.”
From: Sharoon
Date: 12-20-2005, 05:29 PM (1 of 29)
Can anyone please tell me how to do a European Hem? I'd like to do this on a pair of jeans. I've seen it, but have never done it before.
User: Sharoon
Member since: 12-20-2005
Total posts: 5
From: dmoses
Date: 12-20-2005, 06:22 PM (2 of 29)
Hi Sharoon,

Welcome to the Sew-what's-new forum. :smile:

I've never heard of a European hem...what does it look like? I googled it and got very little, but from the little info I was able to find, it seems as though it is a type of rolled hem.
Take care,
Donna
User: dmoses
Member since: 02-22-2002
Total posts: 964
From: MaryW
Date: 12-20-2005, 06:29 PM (3 of 29)
I have heard of it but don't know how to sew one. :sick: Sorry. I will see what I can come up with.
MaryW
owner/editor of Sew Whats New
User: MaryW
Member since: 06-23-2005
Total posts: 2542
From: Sharoon
Date: 12-20-2005, 08:42 PM (4 of 29)
I actually think I've figured it out. It's the hem that all the young kids (teens) want on their jeans now. You basically take the hem that is there and cut and sew it back on so that they have the "original hem look". The tailer shops have been using it. I also did a web search and came up with little, so maybe it has another name as well.

I'm going to get brave and try it tomorrow morning.
User: Sharoon
Member since: 12-20-2005
Total posts: 5
From: bridesmom
Date: 12-21-2005, 01:57 AM (5 of 29)
I'd love to see a picture of this if you can post one.
Laura
Tickled pink with my Innovis 4000D
User: bridesmom
Member since: 01-21-2004
Total posts: 2026
From: HeyJudee
Date: 12-21-2005, 07:14 AM (6 of 29)
Sharoon, When I googled for European hem, I found this explanation...maybe this will help when you try it...Good luck

http://www.handmades.com/forums/General_Sewing/posts/1053.html

PS...Welcome to Sew What's New.
TTFN from
Judy
User: HeyJudee
Member since: 01-25-2005
Total posts: 1366
From: dmoses
Date: 12-21-2005, 08:10 AM (7 of 29)
I'd like to see a picture when you finish also. :smile: I just got up :coffee: , have a splitting headache :whacky: , and don't know if I fully understood the explanation that I read...LOL.
Take care,
Donna
User: dmoses
Member since: 02-22-2002
Total posts: 964
From: paroper
Date: 12-21-2005, 08:41 AM (8 of 29)
Yes, please post back. I tried to follow the directions but I couldn't quite figure it out.
pam

Bernina 200e, Artista V5 Designer Plus, Explorations, Magic Box, Bernina 2000DE & 335 Bernette Serger, Bernina 1530 Sewing Machine, Bernina 1300 DC Overlock (with coverstitch)
User: paroper
Member since: 02-03-2004
Total posts: 3775
From: dmoses
Date: 12-21-2005, 09:07 AM (9 of 29)
Ah-hah! I think I've found it! :wink: This way, you don't have to cut until after you sew...much easier! :up:

Euro hem (http://www.sewnews.com/resources/qa/qa0206c/)
Take care,
Donna
User: dmoses
Member since: 02-22-2002
Total posts: 964
From: AndreaSews
Date: 12-21-2005, 04:10 PM (10 of 29)
It sounds like the quickie way to shorten a pair of jeans. Is that right? Lop off the hem, and then sew it back on at the right length?
Andrea
User: AndreaSews
Member since: 02-18-2005
Total posts: 1007
From: paroper
Date: 12-21-2005, 04:14 PM (11 of 29)
Doesn't it fray or is it supposed to do that?
pam

Bernina 200e, Artista V5 Designer Plus, Explorations, Magic Box, Bernina 2000DE & 335 Bernette Serger, Bernina 1530 Sewing Machine, Bernina 1300 DC Overlock (with coverstitch)
User: paroper
Member since: 02-03-2004
Total posts: 3775
From: dmoses
Date: 12-21-2005, 07:35 PM (12 of 29)
Pam, the Sew News article suggests that you cut only if there is an excess of fabric, and in that case, you overlock or zigzag the seam edge.
Take care,
Donna
User: dmoses
Member since: 02-22-2002
Total posts: 964
From: paroper
Date: 12-21-2005, 08:17 PM (13 of 29)
I'm soooo lost. So it is like a tuck? On the inside or outside. Sorry, this one just has me bumfuzzled.
pam

Bernina 200e, Artista V5 Designer Plus, Explorations, Magic Box, Bernina 2000DE & 335 Bernette Serger, Bernina 1530 Sewing Machine, Bernina 1300 DC Overlock (with coverstitch)
User: paroper
Member since: 02-03-2004
Total posts: 3775
From: dmoses
Date: 12-21-2005, 08:22 PM (14 of 29)
Pam, I think you must have missed the post with the link to the SewNews article above. Yep, it is like a tuck.

Here's the link again:
http://www.sewnews.com/resources/qa/qa0206c/
Take care,
Donna
User: dmoses
Member since: 02-22-2002
Total posts: 964
From: paroper
Date: 12-21-2005, 08:26 PM (15 of 29)
Ah, Thank you. I don't know where my link took me but I was reading about folding sewing, turning inside and out and I totally was missing the idea. Whew! I thought I had lost my mind, because after about the third or fourth fold and turn inside/out I was totally lost. I read and reread about three or four times and it just got more complicated. WHEW!!!! I was having a true Senior moment!!!!!
pam

Bernina 200e, Artista V5 Designer Plus, Explorations, Magic Box, Bernina 2000DE & 335 Bernette Serger, Bernina 1530 Sewing Machine, Bernina 1300 DC Overlock (with coverstitch)
User: paroper
Member since: 02-03-2004
Total posts: 3775
From: stitch2much
Date: 12-21-2005, 09:02 PM (16 of 29)
I found a tutorial on-line quite some time ago but the link no longer works, I kept on looking and..... wouldn't you know it Jess on fig and plum saved it in a word format..... here is the link, click on the "download tutorial", and you should be well on your way to completing your first euro hem. Thanks to Jess for her quick thinking!!

Euro hem (http://www.figandplum.com/archives/000500.html)

Enjoy all!

: )
Yvette
User: stitch2much
Member since: 10-06-2005
Total posts: 22
From: beachgirl
Date: 12-21-2005, 09:03 PM (17 of 29)
Here's a question that I hope someone knows for sure. I need to hem a pair of stretch knit long pants for my 6 yr old gd. Can I use this method on those with a stretch stich of course ? I have no extra material to play around with as these are purchased pants. I was just going to cut them off & blind hem them but this sounds much easier. I have to take 4" off them.
User: beachgirl
Member since: 08-31-2004
Total posts: 615
From: Sharoon
Date: 12-21-2005, 11:18 PM (18 of 29)
Well, I did my hem tonight and it turned out great. If you want I'll try and post a picture (will have to take it tomorrow morning!). I did it a little different than the instructions you've given. I'll also try and explain what I did then!

The look really good and I think this is the way I'll be doing jeans from now on.

Thanks for your advice.
User: Sharoon
Member since: 12-20-2005
Total posts: 5
From: Sharoon
Date: 12-21-2005, 11:24 PM (19 of 29)
I just re-read Dmoses post and her link. That's exactly what I did (and I thought it up all myself!!)... only with the fabric that what too big I cut it back to about 1/4-1/2" took out the original hem and tuck it in there, and resewed the finished topstitching on the right side of the jeans. I was lucky and had the exact colour of thread. I guess if you didn't you might not want to do this as it wouldn't look original then. I think this gave a neater finish though which I think will last through more washings as there are no unfinished edges.
User: Sharoon
Member since: 12-20-2005
Total posts: 5
From: AndreaSews
Date: 12-21-2005, 11:29 PM (20 of 29)
I just hemmed a pair of stretch knit pants last week. Based on that pair, I'd say, no, this European hem is not for a stretch knit. A stretch denim, sure. The hem alteration featured in that website is for the purpose of preserving the worn and faded look of the hem of a pair of denim jeans. The stretch knit pants were never meant to be worn to the point of fading, but rather appear more nicely with a crisp, clean finish. Plus, depending on how stretchy, it may just stretch too much when folded and turned out, and you know how stitches can sort of smoosh a knit when it's stretched and sewn. I think the best thing to do is to take a good look at the existing hem, remove stitches if you you can't just cut the hem off, pin, press, and either do by hand or machine, depending on the look you're going for.
Andrea
User: AndreaSews
Member since: 02-18-2005
Total posts: 1007
From: DorothyL
Date: 12-22-2005, 07:44 AM (21 of 29)
Ok -- maybe I'm missing the point here but if you wear a pair of jeans until the hem looks worn and faded then why would you want to shorten it later. Did you shrink?
I do understand wanting to preserve the worn and faded look but not how the pants suddenly got too long.
Dorothy
User: DorothyL
Member since: 12-09-2002
Total posts: 3883
From: paroper
Date: 12-22-2005, 08:43 AM (22 of 29)
Dorothy, you haven't bought youthful jeans lately have you? They look 40 years old before you buy them. My dd brought home a pair the other day with a hole in the upper thigh that is about 6 inches long and 2 inches wide. The funny thing is that she doesn't consider them to be her "good" pants. Right now a lot of fashion jeans have holes and thin places all over and the hems look worn. About 15 years ago my sister would buy jeans for almost a hundred dollars and her sons would take them out, hang them on the clothesline and shoot holes in them with the shot gun. Now you can buy them like that.

If the pants were too long and you wore them long enough to get faded hems, you'd have the bottoms drug out of them (most of ds's pants).
pam

Bernina 200e, Artista V5 Designer Plus, Explorations, Magic Box, Bernina 2000DE & 335 Bernette Serger, Bernina 1530 Sewing Machine, Bernina 1300 DC Overlock (with coverstitch)
User: paroper
Member since: 02-03-2004
Total posts: 3775
From: DorothyL
Date: 12-22-2005, 09:40 AM (23 of 29)
Pam --
My short daughter walks the hems off. Says she likes them like that.
Dorothy
User: DorothyL
Member since: 12-09-2002
Total posts: 3883
From: emorrow
Date: 12-25-2005, 12:06 PM (24 of 29)
I, too was a bit confused by the instructions, but I think this is the way it goes:


Cut the hem off of the jeans. Leave enough material attached so you can sew it back later
Shorten the jeans to a bit longer than the desired length. Turn that bit under.
Take the cut-off hem and slip it into the cut-off jeans leg.
Arrange the two pieces so that the folded under part of the jeans leg is just above the original hem
Sew the two pieces together. Use matching thread so the stitch line doesn't show


However, I like the idea of just making a large pleat, sewing it down, and trimming the excess afterward :smile:

Ellen
User: emorrow
Member since: 02-26-2005
Total posts: 13
From: Franz
Date: 12-27-2005, 05:25 AM (25 of 29)
Hiya, I am European and I sew a lot and that's how we do hems:
think Jeans....cut 4 cm longer the the final wanted length. Then fold the fabric inside twice. Stitch with the sewing machine. it will NEVER come apart. Sorry for the translation, I am Italian, so tech words are difficult for me.
Franz
User: Franz
Member since: 11-29-2005
Total posts: 5
From: MaryW
Date: 12-27-2005, 06:08 AM (26 of 29)
Thank you Franz and welcome to Sew Whats New. :smile:
MaryW
owner/editor of Sew Whats New
User: MaryW
Member since: 06-23-2005
Total posts: 2542
From: Rea
Date: 12-27-2005, 09:42 PM (27 of 29)
I sew alterations for a dry cleaner at their shop. If I did a "euro hem" on a pair of jeans, i would be fired. (One cuatomer asked about it, but at the time, I didn't know what she was talking about.) of course, you must remember that I have access to all the right machines, and right thread. So it is easier than doing them at home.
The way I read the Sew News article, was to make a pleat, then trim it off, and press down the hem. I just wonder how the jeans would launder, wouldn't the hem flip back to the topside in the wash?
A happy person is not a person in a certain set of circumstances, but rather with a certain set of attitudes. Hugh Downs
User: Rea
Member since: 12-19-2005
Total posts: 47
From: fronno
Date: 12-28-2005, 07:56 PM (28 of 29)
I just wonder how the jeans would launder, wouldn't the hem flip back to the topside in the wash?
Absolutely.
First of all, it is the first time ever that I have heard of this kind of hem, but one is never to old to learn ofcause.
Second, what a lot of extra work!!!!!!
Cut the leg, turn inside out, roll the hem twice in and just like Franz told us, sew it with your sewing machine. It will never let go, and most of all, it saves you a lot of working.
With kind regards,
François
User: fronno
Member since: 04-26-2004
Total posts: 79
From: paroper
Date: 12-28-2005, 09:29 PM (29 of 29)
Personally, I think it is tacky. I am with the group that cuts the jeans off, rolls twice and sews. After they've been washed a couple of times, the new hem will look worn anyway.
pam

Bernina 200e, Artista V5 Designer Plus, Explorations, Magic Box, Bernina 2000DE & 335 Bernette Serger, Bernina 1530 Sewing Machine, Bernina 1300 DC Overlock (with coverstitch)
User: paroper
Member since: 02-03-2004
Total posts: 3775
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