The Sewing Place
The Emporia => A bit of a 'do' => Topic started by: Goth Gardiner on October 08, 2018, 23:38:31 PM
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This has been in my "too difficult" ufo pile for ages because i can't get a decent hem on it.
It is above knee height at one side going to ankle length at the other and so has all sorts of odd grain lines plus a sharp corner at the longest side.
What hints can you give me for getting a decent looking hem?
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Hand sewing. :thread: Overlock or overcast the raw edge and turn a single hem.
Can you press the velvet? If so would a strip of wonderweb inside the hem help stabilise the off-grain cutting?
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Is it woven or jersey? If you can have a visible seam, you can get by with a walking foot, fold over, basing or pinning. What ever you do it will be a bit of work. The overlocker is easy, but it can misbehave, which means spray on stabiliser, wash out fusiable lining or something like that. How stretchy is it? I remember a lot of fraying and slippery fabric the few times I have had my hands on this type of material.
I didn't have an overlocker, but I pressed the seam, and for terrible fraying even a siple zigzag or straight steam can make it hold the threads in place enough to get the seam done.
A way to stabilise the hem, can be to use a strip of fabric in the back sew it to the hem line, and fold it over, but it depens if the stiffening effect is an advantage.
Among all the possibilities I think the nices result would be hand stitching, the type of stitch were you get a sort of zigzag in the back, and hardly any thread showing at all in the front (catch stitch?).
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Could you sew seam tape to the edge, then turn it up and stitch by hand? Either herringbone stitch or the just a normal hemming stitch. The tape would stabilise the stretch.
Hemming difficult fabrics is a nightmare for me too. It's so hard to hide stitches on a self-coloured, shiny fabric.
Good luck!