Here are instructions to hem your jeans with glue, followed by instructions on crystallizing your jeans for stickying.
Hemming Jeans (with glue) Guide:
So, from the responses I got, looks like this isn't as crazy as I thought. But maybe it is...well, herewith instructions:
What you'll need:
1) Measuring tape
2) Jeans (duh)
3) fabric marking pencil (for marking fabric...duh)
4) fabric glue (permanent)
5) safety pins
6) 30 minutes of time
Steps:
1) lay out your jeans on the floor and fold in half (vertically, as shown) and measure the inseam:
2) Using your measuring tape, note the length to which you want the jeans hemmed. Then, draw a straight vertical line (use ruler/straight edge if needed) on both sides of the leg with the fabric pencil 1/4 inch above the desired length (e.g., if desired length is 32 inches, draw line at 31.75 inches).
3) Then, fold the hem inside the jeans at the line you've just drawn.
4) Secure the fold in place with safety pins, placing the pins as far down as possible without compromising their function of securing the fold.
5) (now here comes the hardest part...) Fold and pull down the top half of the original hem (top half because the hem is pointing up, inside the jeans) so that just the edge of the hem with the original stitching sticks out from the fold. Thus, the hem should be folded up and into the jeans, then back down and out of the jeans.
6) Next, without re-positioning the folded hem, carefully dab fabric glue onto the jeans in between the two folds so that the hem does not undo. (i know, i'm explaining this terribly...please see pics...worth a million words here)
7) Using your dexterous hands, firmly press down on the hems to flatten the folds and spread out the glue. Be sure to put glue at the very bottom near the edge, last. That is, put glue at the topmost portion of the hem, press with hands, and then repeat gluing/hand-pressing, working your way down. The glue at the edge will make the jeans look unhemmed, so be sure to put glue there!
8 ) lastly, put glue in between the folds on the inside of the jeans, as pictured, dispersing the glue all around (but not too much that the jeans are soaking wet!) Then, press with hands.
9) Repeat above steps for the other leg's hem. Then, let the glue dry according to manufacturer's instructions.
Voila!
To take out the hemming (in case you want to resell or have grown taller...need to re-hem...or whatever), saturate the glued hems with an adhesive remover. This can be purchased at your local craft store (e.g. micheals) or sometimes at supermarkets in the detergent aisle.
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Crystallizing Jeans Guide:
So, I've gotten a few PMs on how I crystallize my sevens. I thought it would be helpful if I just put up a thread on this topic since this seems to be an interest of many. The following steps are just my suggestions that I've found to work best in this kind of project.
What you'll need:
1) rhinestones...duh (hotfix or flatbacks)
2) jeans...duh
3) bent nose tweezer (for picking up and placing crystals with accuracy)
4) Rhinestone glue (highly recommeded even if you're using hotfix. gem-tac is the best in my opinion)
5) Hotfix applicator wand (Highly recommended even if you're using flatbacks; I recommend that you use a tip size that is 2-3ss smaller than the crystals that you'll be using for this technique)
1) Heat up the applicator wand for 5 minutes (careful, it'll be hot!)
2) Squeeze some glue onto a piece of scratch paper or cardboard.
Crystallizing steps:
1) Pick up a crystal by carefully pinching its sides with the bent nose tweezer.
2) While holding the crystals with the tweezers, carefully dab it in the glue just enough so that there's a thin, even layer of glue on the back side of the crystal.
3) Once dipped in the glue, position the crystal onto the jeans.
4)While still holding the crystal in place with the tweezers, apply the (now hot) applicator wand's tip vertically onto the crystal and press down, holding for 15 seconds, and then vertically lift the applicator so that the crystal does not become displaced (note: I still recommend doing this with flatbacks/non-heat activated crystals because the heat from the applicator will facilitate the drying/curing of the glue)
5) Repeat the above steps for each crystal until you've finished your piece.
Tips:
1) If you find yourself miss-placing the crystals, don't sweat it! Just place the hot applicator wand onto the crystal, hold it for 3-5 seconds so that the glue melts a bit, and then either drag the crystal with the wand to the right place or drag the crystal off the area in a way that debonds it.
2) If you've found yourself completely abhorred by your masterpiece, you can debond all of the crystals by using an adhesive remover. The one I use is made for removing glue and chewing gum, which I found at Ralph's in the detergent aisle. Cost me $3. (CAVEAT: Many of these are alcohol based, so be sure that the solution has completely evaporated from the jeans before applying heat again.)
3) If you're short on time, instead of holding the applicator wand on the crystal for 15 seconds, hold it just for 5 seconds. Then, once you are completely done crystallizing, take out your hot iron and vertically place it on the entire design for 10-15 seconds. DO NOT leave the iron on the fabric for more than 15 seconds, as it may burn the jeans! Repeat this as necessary until you find all of the crystals securely bound to the jeans.
4) If you're opting to use only hotfix crystals without the additional gem-tac glue, I suggest that you use crystals that are no bigger than 10ss, as the bigger ones tend to easily fall off (more surface area to "catch" onto other things and in effect dislodge).
Hope this helps everyone and isn't too confusing. Thanks and enjoy the process!
wet spotter*** (maybe; used to remove many kinds of stains)
