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Sewseamless |
Sewing Shorts/Pants Cont'd |
When you have finished sewing the casing with the elastic inserted, you then need to stitch in the ditch. Stitching in the ditch means to stitch in the seam; some say stitching in the well of the seam. In this case, you will be stitching through the elastic. This anchors the elastic inside the casing and prevents it from twisting and shifting. |
Measuring the hem of shorts leg(s) |
Press shorts/pants hem. |
Stitching in the ditch |
Once you have finished stitching in the ditch, in all the seams around the casing, it's time to hem the legs of the shorts/pants. |
Hemming can be done by machine or by hand. In some cases, the pattern will instruct you to press up the hem and machine stitch (with a straight stitch) around the hem. This is easy and is often found on casual clothes. I prefer to sew most of my hems by hand, and the pattern I'm using instructs me to sew a hand hem. I have pressed a 1-1/4 inch hem, as shown above. I am going to be sewing a blind hem stitch by hand. |
Once the hem is measured and pressed, turn the hem up a little bit (as illustrated here) and take a small stitch in the body of the garment. This is the first step in the hand blind hem stitch. More hand blind hem stitch illustrations can be found here. |