Have you heard about the super easy way to hem your jeans, keeping the original hem?? I have. Of the many tutorials you can find for this online, here’s my favorite, found at Sew Much Ado. Take a look for a general idea of what I’m doing here.

So, I have this denim jacket I bought at Target a while back. I’d bought it on a whim (aren’t all Target purchases whim purchases?). I already own two other denim jackets. (This one is a lighter blue than my others. Totally justifiable purchase.)

I prefer my denim jackets shorter (it makes my short legs look longer, I’m just sure of it), so I decided to try out the jeans hemming hack on my whim-purchased jacket. If it failed, I wouldn’t be too broken up over it.

My jacket.

I would be hemming above the bottom button, so  I cut that out. Otherwise it would be too much bulk for sewing over.

Don’t forget to switch your sewing machine needle to accommodate your heavier fabric.

I measured one of my other jackets with a length I like, and then chose to hem this one to the same length (about 9 inches from the under arm). Remember to calculate the hem you’ll be keeping into your overall length. And then pin the jacket all the way across, keeping your folds at a consistent length.

Then begins the sewing! I had to sew it twice, as the first time I did not sew quite close enough to the original hem, and you could see the new hem above the original one. It’ll seem a little dangerous, but sew that new hem really close, almost on top of, the old hem. A jacket’s bottom hem sits above the jacket, on the front (whereas on jeans, it is only folded underneath). It actually leaves a little more room for error, which is nice.

Once sewn, trim about 1/4″ below your new hem, cutting off that part of the jacket we’re removing. Then fold over your new hem, and press, with a super hot iron.

And voila!

You can’t even tell I just trimmed out 2″ from my jacket!

The inside should look like this:

Now that it’s done, I might actually have liked it a little shorter, but it’s so much more wearable!

Where did I get my dress, you ask? Why, ModCloth of course!! My favorite online store. (affiliate link)