Easy way to hem trousers by hand and an exciting announcement

I have been sewing for many, many years.

My first sewing machine was a Singer I bought in a junk shop with my pocket money in Inverness when I was seven. It didn't have a foot pedal, I had to manually turn the wheel. I just loved it and I made all sorts of things! I did design A-Level and specialised in fashion, plus had one-to-one dressmaking for two years, which was just an incredible opportunity.

I made a lot of clothes, lots of dresses and I specialized in evening wear.

I then went on to study for a fashion degree, which I didn't complete - that's a long story!

I just simply love sewing and I make all sorts of things. I do a lot of tapestries as well and find that so therapeutic.

I thought it would be really useful to share with you a simple way to take up a hem. It's a handy skill to know as you can use this same method for a sleeve on a jacket, whatever it might be.

I'm going to be demonstrating on a pair of cricket trousers because I seem to be forever altering them! Cricket trousers are something that come as a standard length. They tend to be really long and almost always need altering.

Put the trousers on inside out, turn up the hem, and then pin carefully. I tend to pin them slightly longer because once he's got his shoes on, they will then be the perfect length. It's really important when you're trying to shorten something or alter it, to put it on inside out. Then it is the right way round for you to stitch, which we're going to do from the inside so the seam won't show - an invisible hem as it were!

You could machine stitch it, but it will look quite obvious. I'm going to show you how I hand-stitch it. I find particularly with children, it's great because you can then alter the length as they grow. Simon is not going to be growing anymore, so I could snip off the excess material, but I want to show you this method.

Double-thread your needle, and pop a knot at the bottom. Start on the side seam and tuck your knot in. Go in through the seam and bring your needle up and through. It doesn't matter how much you take of the turn-up, but only take a few strands of the fabric of the leg itself through as this gives the 'invisible' effect.

Make sure that your hand is flat as you go so you're not stitching ruckles. Try to keep your stitches as even as you can.

You mustn't pull your thread too tight because then it will cause gathers, you just want to have an even consistency to your stitching. At the same time, you don't want to have any bagginess or loose stitches.

Repeat the process the whole way round. When you're working with the double threads, you do need to make sure that your threads are together and that they're even, so it may take a little practice. That's the only downside with using a double thread when you're hand stitching. Sometimes the threads don't always pull through together as evenly as you'd like, so you can always put your thumb and index finger or middle finger onto the stitch to help guide it through.

Perhaps practice your stitching on something that's not important when you've got a quiet moment.

As you're going, check your work and check that everything is in line and you haven't suddenly veered off.

Keep an eye that you haven't gone off at an angle because it's much easier to rectify a mistake if you catch it early.

When you get to the other side seam and have gone all the way around to the halfway point, again try and make sure that it is lined up with the other side as much as possible.

You might run out of thread and that's fine. You can just tie a knot and start again.

When you get onto the other side, straighten the trouser leg, take out your pins and just pop them onto the side you're about to work on as a guide.

When it comes to time to tie off, I just make a loop, followed by a second loop, pull the first loop tight and put my needle back through the middle of the second loop that I created like that and pull the needle tight. Then snip it off!

For the second leg, fold the trousers in half and lay both legs straight and flat. Measure from the turn-up of the already altered leg, how much material you need to take up of the second. Don't rush it, just make sure that they are the same. Pop your pins in, get them as even as you possibly can.

Repeat the same process as before!

I find the radio perfect, or an audiobook or something like that for my sewing jobs because you do need to keep your eyes on what you are doing!

Thankfully Simon is thrilled with his shortened cricket trousers and shan't be tripping over and hurting himself, he is ready to go and play and have fun!

Now, I've got some exciting news to share with you!

I'm going to be running a two-day sewing course in July, on Monday 19th and Tuesday 20th!

I use teachable for all of my courses and it shall be hosted over there. It's a super platform and makes learning so straightforward! The video content is all prerecorded, and they will be available for you on the morning of the 19th and 20th of July. You can take the course at your own pace, and have got lifetime access to the content on Teachable.

As part of the course, you'll join an exclusive private Facebook Group filled with like-minded students, and I'll be doing live Facebook sessions on Monday and Tuesday at 7:30 pm GMT. I hope that that works for people in America and possibly people in Australia as well.

During these two live sessions, you can ask me any questions and I'm right here to help you. If you can't make the live sessions, don't panic! I save the recordings to the Facebook group and I also upload them to Teachable.

We're going to be covering the basics, so this will be perfect for beginners or somebody who wants to brush up on their skills. From threading needles and tying knots to making a homemade peg bag, hemming items of clothing, making simple repairs, stitching on a button, and some other basic skills to get you going.

If you have questions, I'm really happy for you to message me at any other times, not just during the course! So if it's not at a convenient time, do still sign up and join the course because you'll still get access to all of the content and to me, and can do it any time that suits you.

Click here for more information or to get enrolled!

Thank you for joining me this week, Simon as always was a great sport! Wishing you a fabulous weekend and sending lots of love.

Love, Charlie x