How-to: Shorten a Pair of Pants

pants folded for cuff

Make Your Pants Cuff

Put your pants on inside out, like in the photo above, and cuff them to the length you want. You have a couple of options here:

  • If your cuff isn’t too wide, you don’t have to trim a thing. Just pin your cuffs in place, make sure you’re happy with the length, and you’re ready to press and sew.
  • If your pants are WAY too long, you’ll want to trim the excess fabric, leaving yourself with 1-2″ that you’ll fold twice to create a finished seam. For a 1/2″ cuff at the bottom, leave yourself 1″ of fabric. For a 1″ cuff, you’ll need 2″ of excess to fold twice. Make your folds and pin, checking that your pants fall where you want them to. Then, you’re ready to press and sew.

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