Perfect Hems

Uses: Hems are used on the bottoms of tops, dresses and sleeves. Because the best-looking hems are topstitched, it is important to have very straight hems to catch the fabric underneath.

Materials: Thin cardboard (think cereal boxes) or manila envelopes. Cut in to strips: the first should be the width of your desired hem, the second should be 1/8" shorter. I cut mine at 11/2" and 1 1/8"

Step 1: Using the wider cardboard as a guide, fold and press your hem.

Step 2: Unfold. Place the skinner strip along the fold line. Fold the raw edge over the strip and press.

Step 3: For good measure, keep the smalles strip in place and fold again along the original fold line and press, pressing the ray edge under.

Step 4: Turning to the right side, topstitch at the width between your widest fold and smallest fold. So for mine I stitched at 1 1/4".

Step 5: On the wrong side, you should have a neat seam with all the raw edges sewn under. If anything is sticking out, you may be able to tuck it back in using handstitching or tape.




For more on hems, check out Sew,Mama,Sew!'s lengthy guide to choosing the right hem width for your garment.

Check out the tutorial on Burda Style.