At 5’4″, it’s a rare occasion in which I can buy a pair of dress pants that isn’t too long for me. You would think that when pants come in lengths of “short,” “regular,” and “long,” one would fit me, right?

But because I usually wear shoes with some heels (that bring me to a respectable 5’6″!), the “short” pants are usually too short. And the “regular” length is still just a bit too long for dress pants. The extra fabric bunches at the bottom, and it just doesn’t look very nice. Years ago, I took a couple pair of newly purchased dress pants to a local tailor and had him hem them up for me. Imagine my surprise when I picked them up and had to fork out about half as much as I paid for the pants for the hem job.

I know, I know. I should have asked what it was going to cost. But I didn’t, so I deserved the sticker shock. After that, I figured out how to do a hem stitch myself. It’s really not that hard, especially since most of the time for me, I’m able to fold over the existing hem and the new length is perfect. Because of the folded edge, it keeps the hem even all the way around, saving time making measurements.

Over the weekend, I hemmed two pair of pants I bought recently, and although the first one took me more than an hour to hem, the second took less than 45 minutes, and I probably did a better job. It really is one of those things that you get better at with practice. With the first pair, it was somewhat difficult to grab just one or two threads for the blind stitch and it took multiple attempts. But by the second pair, I seemed to get the hang of it, hence the reduction in time.

Of course, I don’t buy a lot of new dress pants, so I guess the learning curve (or relearning curve) will always be there to some degree. But heck, it’s better than paying $15-$20 a pair to have someone else hem them. in fact, when I think about it, I might even be able justify an extra pair more often given the money I’m saving. Now if I could just learn to enjoy shopping more!