Faux-hem. How-to.

I'm short. Like 5'4" if I haven't just come out of the dryer, short. So pants, jeans especially, can run long on me. As a wee one, I embrace heels. I love heels. But sometimes, a girl just wants the comfort of flats. I'm anti going anywhere but the gym when it comes to athletic sneakers, and I think the times friends of mine have seen me outside a workout situation in my sneaks is all of 2 times. I moved in flip flops. I'm that anti-sneaker. So sometimes my jeans run long, and I want to wear flats, and until just last spring, I just dealt with it. I let my jeans get walked on, which always ends up with ratty, torn, jean bottoms. Nothing ruins a pair faster. I would sometimes tuck my jeans under, but then you lose the hem stitch, and it can look a little funny. I've seen contraptions to work on your hems and shorten them, but again, you mostly lose the hem, or you have some flourescent, bedazzeled device hanging out at your hem and that's just not me. After googling "faux hem", "fake hem", "shorten your jeans keep the hem", and about a dozen other phrases along those lines, I've seen my fair share of how-to's, video tutorials, and weirdo contraptions to use on your pants. I've finally found a way that works for me, and it's really quite simple. So here goes. 4 easy steps to faux-hem your jeans.

Okay, not so much a step, but as you see here...long jeans, flat shoes. Your shoes that you want to wear...you'll want those on. It will help dictate your length to faux-hem.

Then, cuff your pants to the length you want them to be. I do both legs at the same time, to help ensure they're even.

Then (and this is the tricky part but once you get the hang of it, you're golden) hold onto the hem of your jeans and tuck the cuff underneath into your leg.

Viola! Adjust hem, bunching as needed. You can see here in the close up a little fold line, but once you stand up, it's really hard to notice. And the closer the fold is to the hem, the harder it is to see even close up. (As seen with the back part of the leg in this shot).

Optional: Use a safety pin or a regualr pin to pin the inside to hold it more secure. Just be sure to hide the pins as well. I haven't had any issues with my jeans coming undone. I think if I was doing this with a pair of dress pants, I may want to use some pins to hold them.

Easy peasy. Now you'll be able to wear your favortie jeans with heels or flats. And if you're doing the 30 for 30 challenge, you may be able to squeak out a few more outfits with this little trick.