When I buy a new pair of pants, I agonize over what length I should have the hem. Once it’s hemmed a certain length, it means I can never wear them with shoes of differing heel heights. So I procrastinate taking them to the tailors. I revived one such pair after it had been sitting in my closet for a year. I really wanted to wear them the next day but they were too long even for my highest heels. My husband gave me this brilliant tip that works so well that I thought I’d share. Fold over the pants – in my case I just folded it over its existing hem and that was sufficient – and run masking tape all around. Not only did this work beautifully when I wore these pants the first day, but then lasted through wearing them a total of three times before I was ready to throw them in the wash after stripping out the tape. I will likely tape it a different length after laundry and try on with a different batch of shoes before taking it to the tailors. So masking tape is a great tool to try on different lengths and also to help you out in a pinch if you haven’t had time to alter the length!