Jeans Fix: reattach the original hem
I always hate the way jeans look when I get them hemmed — as if they were a pair of office khakis. It just never looks right. A piece of All-American Cool is suddenly Squaresville, USA.
One alternative is to actually reattach the original hem — with its distinctive stitching, thread color, and marks of distress intact. Here’s a pretty extensive forum thread about original/frankenhems.
I’d read about it be never tried it until a week ago. I was at my local tailor in Queens, and he asked me if I wanted to give it a shot with a new pair of jeans. They’re neither the best tailors nor jeans in the world, but: What do you think? I’m not so sure how well it turned out…
Click here for a short Flickr set.
June 1st, 2010 at 11:44 pm
Always good to see a fellow Queens Native with similar interests. I have been doing hems while maintaining the original for a long time. I have been doing them at the tailors in Roosevelt Field since they keep the original hem and do no cutting. Overall the jeans are ok. Some tend to be a bit long but I plan on taking them back and having them tweaked a bit. There is also a cleaner on Herricks Avenue that does original hem as well. May test some jeans there also.
June 2nd, 2010 at 10:26 am
It doesn’t look like the best job of keeping the original hem, but consider how few people will pay attention enough to notice.
I avoided the issue by getting single wash jeans and hemming them. Since there was no wear, the new hems look fine. It’s just taking a long time to break them in.
June 2nd, 2010 at 11:41 am
This type of hem style I’ve had done is sometimes referred to as a “California Hem”. I don’t know why. But your tailor may know what you’re asking for if you request this!
June 3rd, 2010 at 4:24 pm
on the same note, does anyone know a custom denim / jean tailor in NYC?
June 6th, 2010 at 9:47 pm
josh- from personal experience and given that we have almost the same exact measurements, just stick to levi’s. no hemming required. problem solved. :)
June 6th, 2010 at 10:03 pm
and JT- check out ernest cut & sew in the meatpacking district. my friend had her jeans custom-made there for ~$200, and they look great. (they make custom jeans for guys too, just to be clear). i have a pair of ernest sewn myself (off the rack), and love it.
June 8th, 2010 at 9:54 pm
I think that doing an original hem with jeans does indeed look better than a regular hem. Practically all new, off-the-shelf jeans I see are broken in in some way, so if you have to hem them it’s going to look weird if you don’t do an original hem. Yes, if you look very closely when not wearing them you can tell the difference, but from a distance to others while they’re on I think it’s completely unnoticeable. Think about it — how often is someone’s head a foot away from your feet?
Thomas: I’ve lived in California all my life, and I’ve never heard this called a California hem! There are a few hits in Google for it, though, so it must come from somewhere…
I have my own sewing machine, and there are a lot of web pages that describe how to do this hem — just search Google. It took a few tries to get it down, and my result is not as good as what I’d get from a professional with a serger, but I found it to be one of the easier sewing skills to learn, and it saves me about 12 USD each time I need it done. If you’re sticking with a tailor, just ask if they do an original hem (or California hem). They’ll either know or not know, and if they don’t, just keep looking.
June 8th, 2010 at 11:01 pm
Rich: I can’t claim to be a Queens native (I’m a Mainer). Been here 5 years though — does that count for anything? Sounds like we both need to find better tailors.
Robert: Good advice, as always.
Thomas: Who knew? I feel like everything is a “California” something…
JT: No idea if these guys are any good, but… http://www.denimsurgeon.com/
Sonny: Thanks. I’ve been a Levi’s/Gap jeans guy my whole life (well, Lee when I was a little kid cause they had that cool commercial with the branding iron on the leather patch…). But they just don’t fit me perfectly in the, uh, seat. Pretty close, but I’m looking for perfect. So the search is on. This is why I think jeans advice is really impossible. It’s such an individual thing.
Frank: Good point — it’s really not noticeable from a few feet away. Hey, I was wondering how your adventures in sewing were going… Sounds like you’re saving a few bucks (and getting it done to your liking). Cool!
June 10th, 2010 at 3:22 pm
I remember, as a kid, my mom getting the gold-colored thread that was pretty close to the color of jean thread, and sewing the hem in a similar style. It wasn’t exact, but it wasn’t bad either.
Now I just wear shrink to fit 501s that are about 2 inches too long, which I can cuff or just leave baggy.
July 30th, 2010 at 8:12 pm
Definitely reattach the original hem!
You know there was a company called Intellifit that sure would have helped solve alot of issues. It was a body scanner that would scan you, with your clothes on, and then would give you a print out of designers and the lines that would fit you best. That way you didn’t have to try on everything they offer trying to find the best fit. They also were going to offer custom made jeans from your scans. They still have a website, but don’t think they have done anything. They sure never launched like the Youtube video said they were going to.
Here’s the Youtube video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1IceHjADbQ
Here’s their custom jean website: http://intellifit.uniquescan.com/
Here’s their corp website: http://www.it-fits.info
It’s a great concept and wish it would catch on.
I just don’t understand how with today’s technology they don’t have custom jeans stores. You go in, they measure you there, it is sent to a computer aided fabric cutting table there in the store, it zaps out the patterns for your size and then they sew them in the store. Jeans in a day! I’m sure it isn’t that easy or it would have already been done….
August 2nd, 2010 at 5:05 pm
Kyle: Shame. This really does seem eminently doable. It’s 2010 for pete’s sake!