/diy/ - Do It Yourself

piece of cake. put pants on, position one where you want it, scribe a line on the pants with a sliver of bar soap along the top edge. remove pants, lay them flat, place thing at the level you marked, straighten it, smooth it flat, pin it in place. make sure all the edges are folded under, just follow the crease line that's already there. then run a basting stitch (yellow line in pic) around it, remove the pins, try the pants on, check the placement, adjust if needed. once satisfied, sew it down using a backstitch (blue lines), again following what was already there before, just do those same two lines of stitching all the way around. remove basting stitches, tidy up thread tails by burying them between the layers of fabric, first pant leg is finished.

try to keep it all as flat and smooth as you can while working. roll the cuff up and clip or safety pin it if the extra material at the lower leg is getting in your way too much, just be sure to let it down while trying the pants on and check that it's not distorting the areas you're working on. practice backstitching on a folded paper towel if you've never sewn before. in case you don't get on well with the pinning and basting business, i've seen people mention using elmer's school glue instead but can't speak to it myself. if all else fails pick up a roll of wondertape and use that.