Yesterday I showed how to make the Twirly T-Shirt Dress, and while I took the easy route and serged the hem, not everyone will want to do that. Here’s a way to get a nice looking hem on a curve, like the hem on that dress.
Begin by sewing a long, gathering stitch around the edge of your hem. My gather stitch length is 5 on my machine. If you have a big piece to hem, do a double row of this gathering stitch, about 1/8” apart from each other.
Slowly pull the bottom threads until you get loose, even gathers around the entire hem.
You’ll notice that as it gathers, it folds under on itself a little. That’s exactly what you want! When it is nice and even, iron it down to keep it there.
Then, the last step is to pin, and sew the hem. The curves will be much nicer and smoother, and the fabric won’t look pulled all over the place. {Granted, I should have hemmed this at about 1/2” or more, but my sample fabric was a tiny circle… :)}
This is great to know! I should totally try it sometime. :) I usually zigzag around the entire edge of the circle, which gives a little bit of stiffness to the edge, then fold over twice and hem with a very small stitch.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing! I just got into sewing and this is a very helpful tutorial!
ReplyDeleteGlad I stumbled across your blog. Would love the follow back :)
The Pretty Pinhead
That's great! Thank you so much for sharing.
ReplyDeleteDrat! This post is about three weeks too late to make a difference on my little girl's top. But it sure will be great to use this technique from now on! Thank you so much!
ReplyDeleteI LOVE your tutorials - I'm just learning to sew and am SEW excited to have your help!
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