The designer eurohem is a hemming technique primarily used in hemming jeans to preserve the worn hem and stitching of the original hem while shortening the jeans.

Here is how to do that!

Put on your jeans to determine how much you need to shorten them. Fold up the bottom to the length you want.

Mark the bottom fold with a pin.

Check and mark both legs in case one is shorter than the other.

Remove the jeans. Measure the distance from the pin to the top of the original hem stitching. Do NOT include the finished hem in this measurement.

Example: From the pin in the bottom fold (the finished length you want) to the top of the original hem stitching equals 2-1/2 inches.

Divide this amount by 2. Example: 2 -1/2 inches divided by 2 = 1-1/4 inches

Fold up the bottom of the jeans to the outside having the right sides together.

Measure from the top of the original hem stitching down to the 1/2 amount that you determined you needed to shorten the jeans.

Example: In my example, this would be 1-1/4 inches.

What you will actually do is take a tuck in the jeans leg right above the original hem line.

Place a pin right beside the top of the original stitching line. Measure all around the jeans leg and pin to hold the tuck in place right beside the original hem stitching line.

Make sure it is smooth and measures the same all around the leg.

Note: If the jeans are flared, the bottom hem will be larger than the width of the shortened leg. Then, you must open the inseam of the original hem and shorten it to meet the new leg width.

With a zipper foot on your machine, stitch the tuck close to the original stitching line, removing the pins as you come to them.

The original worn hem and stitching should be visible when you are finished.

Press the original hem down.

Press the tuck up inside the leg if it is less than an inch. If it is more, cut off the extra fabric leaving about 3/4 of an inch to allow for fraying. Press this fabric up into the leg.

On the outside of the leg, stitch in the ditch (well of the seam) on both the inseam and out seam of the jeans to hold the tuck up into the leg.

Press well.

The jeans still have the original hem at the bottom and the tuck is not noticeable.

Enjoy your Designer Eurohemmed Jeans!

Try it! It just makes sense!