Boy are we lucky. Remember (if you've been reading a long time) my beef about there not being a tutorial anywhere on the web for how to hem jeans using an invisible hem? And remember how we found one in the most unlikely of places (the Z. Cavaricci website) and linked to it? A few new readers have informed me that Cavaricci has removed that tutorial from their site. (They did us wrong once by producing those horrible pleated jeans in the early '90s, and now they've done us wrong again)
I apparently had an unusual attack of wisdom that day, however, and saved the tutorial as a Word doc in the event of just such a disappearance. Download the tutorial here. [MS Word]
Please let me know if you have trouble downloading the file or viewing the photos.
Posted by jess at September 6, 2005 8:49 AMUh, I don't know what to say about this. I'm speechless. It is EXACTLY what I have been looking for. I do all of my own hemming (due to my midget-legs) and was searching for a way to make it look less obvious on jeans. This is quite a trick and I am surprised I hadn't thought of it. Thans for the public service! Oh, and your comments still won't accept my blog URL - megannkerri (dot) blogspot (dot) com.
Posted by: Megann at September 6, 2005 9:22 AMThanks for saving that doc...I'd bookmarked it, but forgot to save it. I'm only five feet tall, and this is perfect for me! (Although Victoria's Secret has many of their jeans in short lengths, which is a life saver. Because I HATE hemming jeans...)
Posted by: Lee Ann at September 6, 2005 11:48 AMGenius! (for saving it, I mean!)
Thank you!
Much thanks!! Alas, 99% of the jeans I find are waaaay too long for my very non-gazelle-like legs. This tutorial is perfect since I HATE the look of jeans that don't have that perfectly original hem.
Posted by: peggy at September 6, 2005 10:46 PMCavaricci- there's a name I never thought I'd hear again :) Remember in middle school how those were the pants with 300 belt loops?
(that last sentence is for anyone 27-30 years old).
you are a superstar!
Posted by: Pipstar at September 7, 2005 5:30 AMGuess I'm too old for Cavaricci! hm.
And how cool - I'll definitely be using this technique for my short-legged big-butted 9yo daughter's pants. (hope she doesn't read your blog)
Posted by: Laura at September 7, 2005 11:09 AMI have midget legs like Meghan too :) This post comes at the perfect time for me. I have like 5 pairs of designer jeans I ordered off ebay. And since they're always made for 8' tall supermodels, about 2' have to come off the bottom. THANKS!!
Posted by: Sarah at September 7, 2005 11:24 AMJess, you are a genius! I've downloaded away. We short folks have to watch each others' backs. =)
Posted by: Giao at September 7, 2005 10:44 PMJess,
Have you seen this? http://knitty.com/ISSUEfall05/PATTblackberry.html
Seems an awful lot like the circular shrug you were tinkering with awhile back.
Sara
Posted by: Sara at September 8, 2005 7:47 PMbless you, my child. i had just gone back to that site and...dead link. yikes!
Posted by: stacia at September 16, 2005 12:50 PMDeadly! I've been using the Cavaricci method for a few months now and it is indeed BRILLIANT. Tonight I set to hem three more pairs of pants and noticed that my bookmark had been rendered useless. Thanks a lot for saving the tutorial (although by now it should be embedded in my brain).
Also, I've noticed that since a lot of the pants I buy are flared, and I'm only 5'2 so I usually have to cut off about 8-10" and lose the whole flare, the original hem I'm preserving has excess width and therefore bunches when I try to sew it around.
To get around this I cut into the hem I'm preserving and resew the edges of it (that part only) to make it "tighter" so that it doesn't bunch when you sew it around. Then I continue to stitch around the pant leg. OK, I just proved that I should never, ever write a tutorial. But hopefully you understood what I meant.
Posted by: punky at September 19, 2005 1:33 AMabsolutely fabulous. Damn my short legs... but this will help immensely in my hemming. I hated jean shopping just for this reason. god that just made my day. Thank you!!
Posted by: lori at September 21, 2005 6:36 PMwhen I download the tutorial I can't get the photo's why? (hemming jeans like a pro)
Posted by: Joanne at October 8, 2005 6:22 PMHi, I downloaded the tutorial and can't get the pics either. The instructions alone seem a bit too confusing. I have a pair of jeans on top of my sewing machine waiting to go. These are my first "after baby#2 cool jeans" and I want to wear them ASAP. :0) Any suggestions?
Posted by: Danica at October 11, 2005 6:44 AMWow! Thanks so much for the tutorial link! I have a different problem from many of the previous postings... I'm too TALL for many regular length pants & too SHORT for many tall length pants. I'm absolutely looking forward to putting this method into practice!
Posted by: becky at October 23, 2005 11:35 AMThank you very much for your tutorial for hemming jeans! I am a short short girl and always having trouble finding jeans that fit just like that and always have to cut them...
Posted by: Katariina at January 14, 2006 9:15 AMIt looks like I'm having picture problems as well. :(
Posted by: Michele at May 10, 2006 4:38 PMMmm yeah no program is allowing me to download the file. I've tried word pad, and every image program I could think of in order to see the photos. Nothing. Help? I want this so bad. I have freakishly short legs and wide hips, therefore no jeans fit me correctly.
Posted by: Samantha at May 23, 2006 1:11 PMWow, I *so* need this tutorial, midget legs over here too :-)
Posted by: Miriam at May 25, 2006 11:30 PMI'm 4'10". I hem everything. Thanks so much!
No probs downloading or viewing the tutorial here. I've converted it to PDF.
For those having difficulty viewing the tutorial (MS Word doc), perhaps this will help:
Microsoft Word Viewer 2003 (Free)
Brief Description: "View, print and copy Word documents, even if you don't have Word installed."
Download from Microsoft:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads
Thanks SOOOOO much for putting this out there for everyone! I just bought a pair of Lucky Brand jeans (on sale) and they are too long. Because they were on sale, I can't return them. Tried hemming them but it looked lame. This is the perfect solution. You just saved me $25 not having to hire a pro. Plus when you add the 25 bucks to the sales price, I wouldn't have saved a thing.
Posted by: Michelle at January 18, 2007 8:00 PMJust bought 4 new pairs of jeans. I am going to try this technique tonight. At 4'10" I either pay to have them hemmed or trip over the bottoms. Does this technique work the same on corduroys?
Posted by: Heath at January 25, 2007 9:02 AMThis is The Year 2007 and in a few days it will be 2008. Just found this tute. So Thankful to you, and how wise you were to save the instructions. This is my best Christmas present. Thanks again!
Posted by: Donna at December 29, 2007 7:42 PMI am so excited...I have had a sewing machine for years but have always been scared of hemming my own jeans...and I dont have "gazelle" like legs (loved that)...so this is PERFECT! Thanks!! -Mel
Posted by: Mel at February 20, 2008 10:12 PMWow - 've been reading your blog for a little while now and I was so thrilled to see this entry come up in my google search on how to sew and original hem on my jeans! Thank you thank you thank you!
Posted by: LEO at March 27, 2008 10:53 AMWow - I've been reading your blog for a little while now and I was so thrilled to see this entry come up in my google search on how to sew and original hem on my jeans! Thank you thank you thank you!
Posted by: LEO at March 27, 2008 11:03 AMYes, Yes, Yes!! Thank you for saving and re-posting this document! I went to the z. cavaricci website looking for this tutorial and was disappointed that it was nowhere to be found.... until I came across your site. YOU'RE AWESOME!
Posted by: Angie at July 21, 2008 7:13 PMThank you Thank you Thank you!!
Posted by: NJ at December 4, 2008 10:15 PMI've been reading your blog for a while, but apparently not since you posted this! So glad you saved this info! Thanks!
Posted by: Mandy at August 14, 2009 10:33 AMWell, I have to say this is pretty slick. Does the new hem ever flip up?
Posted by: Darcy at November 21, 2009 2:47 PM
There are just a few pictures in the first oart if the tutorial. Nothing on page 2.