How to hem a heavy jeans skirt?

I needed a new work skirt for the farm.  This is a bit-above-ankle length, basically my standard skirt.  

The thing is, the big box fabric shop only had three non-stretch jean fabric (and nothing else heavy enough "because no one wants to sew anything that heavy for summer").  I would have rather it not be jeans, but meh.  it was affordable-ish.  But when I get it home and washed, it's so stiff I can make thunder sounds like one does out of a large sheet of card.  That's going to be durable at least.  And only me and the chickens will see it.

What I learned about fabric choices aside, I'm having trouble figuring out how to hem this beast of a skirt.  The double fold-over hem would make a very stiff rim which I don't want.  

So I'm thinking about doing this with some twill tape https://www.doinaalexei.com/sewing-a-twill-tape-hem-finish.html


any suggestions?  I've got a little bit more sewing to do before I get to that stage.

PS, the skirt is heavy with top stitching to match the jean fabric look.  

My vote would be to just bind it, something that folds over both sides. Bias tape, lace, something like that. I wouldn't even fold it once. Having made a skirt like that once, and I did fold it once, it added to the stiffness and lack of drape. I ended up taking that skirt apart, it was too solid to wear as a skirt. Was lovely fabric! But super heavy. Made good parts for pants. I used it for the part of jeans that need to be durable.

That looks like a good solution to me.

Edit: Pearl's idea is better though. I  didn't think of that.

Instead of hemming the edge, why not fray it instead. My son outgrew his jeans so rather than cutting them to my length (he's 10" taller than me) and re-hemming them, I just let them fray. I was only using them to work in so they didn't need to look tidy. 8 years on they still look (almost) the same as when I first got them.

These are going to get covered in farm and will be going through the washer and dryer 2-4 times a week because as much as I love my farm, I don't like some of the smells it makes.  

An unhemmed edge would look nifty though.

r ranson wrote:

An unhemmed edge would look nifty though.

Stitch 3 or 4 lines closely about 1/2 inch up, then pink the edge. Keeps them from unraveling past the stitching.
Frayed might be the best idea yet

This skirt has an unhemmed/frayed edge, and, I love it. I tend to sit on my feet, and not having a hard, bulky hem digging into my ankles is nice. Plus, it gets compliments, almost every time I leave the house, AND it's so much easier than hemming.

In historical dressmaking, a wide bias strip would often be sewn along the bottom of a skirt to make the hem (sometimes with stiff fabric to help hold shape, but often with cotton or self lining fabric. Think blanket/quilt binding but wider and stronger. This would allow the bottom of the skirt to be removed for cleaning, or replaced as it would take a lot of wear and tear before the body of the skirt was ready to be retired or remade. The frayed bottom, while easy and " a look" concerns me from a durability and practical standpoint, as even if I do the straight stitch above the fray line, inevitable I get stragglers that pull and fray further. For a work garment, I'd rather start with a stouter, more durable finished seam to make it last longer and catch on things less.

I actually do wear this skirt outside, doing chores, including barn & gardening chores in all kinds of weather, and have been for well over a year. While I was working at the coffee shop, I wore it to work, because then, I could come home and go straight to taking care of our 70+critters, without having to go in and change, first. I didn't do the stitching at the hem - something I might add, for extra durability, this year, but there's still no signs of wear, beyond what you'd expect, in a pair of jeans. This hem is just at the bottom of my ankle, so it doesn't drag the ground - unless I'm sitting on the ground.

No criticism of the frayed hem intended- I like the look and that skirt is very cool! I just personally prefer, on longer things, a finished hem, in large part because I have mobility issues and am particularly conscious of anything potentially trippy around my feet. And I thought the historical technique was interesting in the context because of the ability to replace the hem as part of normal clothing maintenance.

Mercy Pergande wrote:No criticism of the frayed hem intended- I like the look and that skirt is very cool! I just personally prefer, on longer things, a finished hem, in large part because I have mobility issues and am particularly conscious of anything potentially trippy around my feet. And I thought the historical technique was interesting in the context because of the ability to replace the hem as part of normal clothing maintenance.

Oh, no, I didn't take it that way, at all, and definitely didn't mean to come across as defensive or snippy. 😊 It just occurred to me that yours are very valid concerns that I hadn't addressed, and thought I'd share my experiences with that hem, so far.

Having a devil of a time with the waistband.  Normally I put an elastic in the back and a tie in the front, but instead, I'm just shortening the elastic and relying on that.  I'm also hopeful I can add belt loops later.  I have serious hate for this fabric and it had better make the bestest most durable skirt ever!

Once I get that sorted, I can hem it.  

I've done a bound edge before and find it can add quite a bit of weight and structure to the skirt https://youtube.com/clip/Ugkx2fH_PFkXEqS7TQGQe2VUlAbWk51Frr5z

So I decided to weigh different options.  See which comes up the least.  Add that to the decision making.  

r ranson wrote:

the skirt is heavy with top stitching to match the jean fabric look.

Is the top stitching in a contrasting colour?

Mercy Pergande mentions historical use of bias tape, but I'm sure I saw a video of some sort of weaving/braiding/sewing system which was done right at the bottom of a skirt. I didn't understand it fully, but the concept was that the part of the skirt that would wear against the ground could be replaced. The question would be could you find suitable material for making such a hem in the same contrasting colour as you used for the top stitching, if that's what you did. The trouble with different materials is that they may fade at different rates with washing.

However, I do agree that even a single fold of the jeans fabric may seem stiff to you.

The other side of the equation for the whole skirt is how stiff it gets when you wash it. Have you considered shaking it multiple times during the drying process? The trouble is that you'd have to hang it to dry somewhere that you walk by enough times naturally, that it won't require too much interfering with other activities. You won't get to choose to only hang it to dry on windy days when you need to wash it when you happen to run into the problem I mentioned last night - defensive Muscovy duck poo.... twice in the last week!

I went with a mild yellow for the top stitching.  Sort of contrasting, but not as strong as normal.  I couldn't figure out what thread to use so I got quilting cotton thread and it seems very strong.  

I don't normally use a dryer so maybe that's why the fabric is stiff?  It's been so long since I wore jeans that I don't know if the dryer makes it worse or not.  

r ranson wrote:I don't normally use a dryer so maybe that's why the fabric is stiff?  It's been so long since I wore jeans that I don't know if the dryer makes it worse or not.  

Dryers make the jeans fabric softer - less of a board - but at a huge cost in both energy and wear on the material. I find just doing the "shake periodically while drying" gets it part way without the down side of using my fabric shrinking machine dryer.

I went with a bit of half inch twill tape.  Sewed it on to the edge, then folded it up.  This way I have less than 1/5th inch of jean fabric turned under with a single turn.  It looks like regular jeans from the outside but it doesn't add the bulk that a double turn hem would.

I tried some of the other options on scraps of cloth.  The frey option tickled.  Wrapping in twill tape added more bulk and structure than the method I choose.  But it was a very close second choice.

The waist took a lot of jiggery-pokery to get so I was happy with it as it's a heavier skirt than I've made before.  Even the wool skirt with flatlining wasn't this weighty.    The skirt almost stands up on it's own when I'm not wearing it.  Not sure how I feel about that.  Please soften with wear and washing.  

Soaking stiff fabric in hot water with vinegar over several hours will soften the fabric.
As for hemming the bottom, perhaps the zig-zag stitch on the very edge might be on option, and above (second row) another zig-zag  with wider stitch length and width.

For the waist, perhaps a little lose fit waist over tommy and back side, sew in or on the waist itself  two elastic loops above each hip,  and a button further away from the loop. It would be adjustable as the skirt wears on.

Or, sew 2 buttons in waist above each hip and use elastic loop to catch both buttons at each side to cinch fabric. Scrunchie for hair works too over the buttons but the buttons have to be bigger size so the scrunchie won't slip