Burda Style For people who sew

How many times have you left a great looking, worn down pair of denim in to the shop because the legs are too long? They just don´t lok the same if you just cut them shorter... Denim pants with an abraded hem need to be shortened with a seam. Bootcut jeans cannot be shortened with a straight seam because the sewing lines are not the same length. In this tutorial you´ll see how to shorten jeans with a curved seam - no matter how flare legged your bootcut jeas are!

Technique Materials

Jeans, ruler, ball point pen, sewing equipment

• Intro
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• Get Instructions (PDF, 1.6 MB)

8 Comments

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  Feb 24, 2011, 01.13 PMby katielikestodraw

  There is definitely something wrong with the pdf. I definitely don’t think anyone is listening, since the last person to ask the same thing did so A YEAR ago. Anyway, I’ll just add it to my toolkit in the meantime :-)
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  Feb 24, 2011, 01.13 PMby katielikestodraw

  There is definitely something wrong with the pdf. I definitely don’t think anyone is listening, since the last person to ask the same thing did so A YEAR ago. Anyway, I’ll just add it to my toolkit in the meantime :-)
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  Feb 24, 2011, 01.13 PMby katielikestodraw

  There is definitely something wrong with the pdf. I definitely don’t think anyone is listening, since the last person to ask the same thing did so A YEAR ago. Anyway, I’ll just add it to my toolkit in the meantime :-)
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  Feb 4, 2010, 11.50 PMby cfnelson

  I had problems with the PDF file also—nothing there—Burda are you listening??? This needs a fix—please?
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  Dec 4, 2009, 02.00 PMby littlelupin

  For some evil reason I cannot open the instructions PDF (because i wanted to save them on my computer. if i save internet links online they get moved around sometimes and i lose the information…)

  Is the problem mine or do other people have the same issue?

  (Great technique btw, can’t wait to learn this skill and try it out.)
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  Jun 22, 2009, 05.32 PMby sings4him814

  yay for outsapop! like emilykate, i’m short and curvy and ALL of my pants are too long, even the ones that are SUPPOSED to be in ‘short’ and ‘petite’ sizes. skinny jeans are easy to fold up while still looking stylish, but i could never find a way to keep the boot cut jeans (and flared dress pants) from dragging the ground and becoming ragged at the bottom. . .but now i can!!! thanks so much for sharing, this is beyond brilliant! now if you’ll excuse me, i’m off to do a little bit of altering. . . =)
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  May 6, 2008, 04.58 PMby emilykate

  This is brilliant! As a short curvy girl I’m all about the boot-cut jean! I knew about the european-seam technique for keeping the abraded edge, but this is so brilliant, making the curved seam so it matches the length perfectly… the way I have been doing it, I ended up with extra fabric that I just cut off, and it was on the inside seamline so I said to myself oh noone can see… but if I do my next pair your way, they’ll be PERFECT. This is very timely cos I gotta buy new jeans this weekend! You’re a jean-ious, teehee!
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  May 3, 2008, 08.39 AMby nehmah

  Outsapop, I’ve been doing jeans shortening for more than 30 years; You have saved me from hours of pinning and ripping (when I got it off by a fraction!) You have taught an old dog a new trick. Thanks, Nehmah