How to add length to jeans

Today I spent some time mending in my sewing room. One of the things I had to do was add length to a pair of my daughters jeans. I had previously hemmed them, but when her legs finally grew into them she had ruined the chance of removing the hem by wearing down the back of the jeans. You can see that the bottoms are very worn and I couldn't save the hemmed edge.

I wanted something fun and different for her wardrobe, so here is a quick tutorial on how I did it!

Lucky for me, anytime someone blows a hole in their jeans or if they become too big or too small I ALWAYS save them. This lighter pair of jeans is an adult pair next to my daughters (the dark ones). You can see that the bottom hem of the lighter pair is quite a bit wider then my daughters. I am going to use that for a bit of a flair at the bottom of her pants.

The first step is to remove the hem on the jeans you want to add length to. 

Then cut then cut the hem off of the recycled jeans that will become the hem. 

I wanted to add an extra 2 inches to my daughters jeans, so I cut 1" off of her current pair to remove the nasty hem, and cut 3 1/2" from the pair that I am recycling into her new hem. 

The extra 1/2" is for the seam allowance.

Because the new hem is wider then her current leg width I turned both pieces inside out. I lined up the raw edges of the pieces and drew a line from the edge of the current leg width to the new hem. 

I wanted to keep the new hem in tact. Had I not cared about this, I could have drawn a line straight down or at a slight angle to match the current pair of pants.

Sew on the line using a straight stitch. Cut off the excess.

Turn the leg of jean right side out. Keep the new hem inside out. 

Line up the seams on the 'outside' of the leg. 

Pin and sew together leaving 1/2" seam allowance. 

I chose to keep the flair on the outside of the leg.

Here is a close up of the jeans being sewn together.

Turn entire leg of jeans inside out. Sew the seam allowance down to keep it in place and to make it lay flat.

Turn right side out.

Voila, a new and improved pair of jeans with a bit of flair. Adding length can be lots of fun - you can add length above the knee for a fantastic pair of bell bottoms or just a unique touch.