How quickly to pants of the perfect length wear out?

Sarah

Angie has won me over to her perfect pants length rule, but now I’m wondering how quickly they wear out and get frayed. Jeans can still look stylish with some wear around the hem, but I’m not so sure about dress pants. I bought some pants that actually fit me last month, a beautiful grey pair from The Loft, but I haven’t gotten around to hemming them yet. The main reason is that I don’t know what length to hem them to. I plan to wear them with 3 inch heels. The pants have an inseam of 32”. My inseam is 29” without shoes and 31” with the 3” heels. Will these pants last if I hem them to 31 inches?

18 years ago

General

6 replies

Latest reply was from Sarah

mayapple

Active Member

Perfect pants length means your pants don't get caught on your heel or drag on the ground, which cause them to fray and wear out. They should just BARELY skim the ground when you're standing. When you're walking, they will ride up ever so slightly, preventing them from fraying. They should neither be sweeping the street nor showing the heel of your shoe.

You'll have to have to commit to different lengths for different shoes. Go ahead and hem to 31" if you plan to wear these with heels, but then don't wear them with flats otherwise they'll be too long and get dirty and wear out.

18 years ago

Nicole

Veteran

Sarah, I wear wide legged dress pants with heels on a regular basis. I have never had a pair wear out on the hem. As Mayapple said, you don't actually hem the pants to touch the ground. My mother does all my alterations and I actually ask her to measure 1/4 inch from the ground up and that is the point she pins the pants.

18 years ago

Sarah

Active Member

Thank you ladies. This advice helps a lot. I guess I didn't know there was a difference between "skimming" the ground when standing still and sweeping the ground/dragging on the ground while walking. I'll hem them to 31" and let my mom pin them first; she always helps with my alterations. I only plan to wear the pants with my black 3" heels. Thanks again!

18 years ago

mayapple

Active Member

This link might help you get a visual. Actually, most of the jeans shown are too short, but the wide legs are pretty spot on. See how they're not really dragging on the ground but they still keep the shoe covered? Compare to the boot cut jeans which are about an inch too short.

http://www.zafu.com/roller/pag....._too_short

18 years ago

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

Nice visual. The first and last sets of jeans are fine (the skinnies with the sandals and the wide legs). The rest are at least an inch too short.

It's best to commit a set of pants to a heel height Sarah. But skinnies will go both ways.

18 years ago

Sarah

Active Member

Got it. Thank you for the visual. I can't wait to get them hemmed and have some pants I can wear with heels! I've been stuck in flats for weeks, ever since I learned that all my pants were too short.

18 years ago

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