How Do You Make a Hem?

Series Summary

It is always fun to shop for new clothes, to buy new jeans or to come home with a brand new skirt. However, for a mother of five, the motto for clothes is: clothes never go out of style. Unfortunately, clothes, especially when worn by children, need repairs and modifications constantly. Kids tear clothes, lose buttons and grow, which makes it difficult to keep the clothes nice looking and up-to-date. In this free video series, an expert seamstress and tailor demonstrates how to clean and repair clothes. Learn how to hem pants and patch up holes. Get tips on shrinking pants and doing basic pants repairs, as well as learning how to cover bleach stains. Fixed stretched out shirts and keep all clothes looking new with the help of an expert in clothes alterations with this free video series on clothing care.

Video Transcript

"I'm at Deluxe, a resale clothing store where we also have local designer's fashion and where we also do alterations. And right now I'm going to show you how to do a hand stitched hem on just a piece of fabric. So when you get your measurement of where you want the hem, you turn under twice so you don't have any raw edges hanging out because those will tend to unravel. If it's a thick piece of fabric, you might want to use a piece of seam binding or something, but this is very thin cotton. So I like to start my sewing with a triple loop from the needle and the turned under hem. So I will just do a little three loop, tiny, tiny little loop and that locks it in. Knots tend to break off eventually or pull through or they're just not as effective. And you do three loops, you do the second one close to the first but not in the same place or it'll slide right through. Your third one can be through the first one again. That locks it in and that's not going to go anywhere. So you start out by going through the main part of the underside of the fabric, just the tiniest little bit. I'm using a contrasting thread just to show you. And you don't want to pull, put the needle in the outside article of garment, or garment because it's going to show through. So I like to use pins if you need to keep the hem straight. And that also can act as your guide for your sewing line. So the next stitch you do, maybe a quarter inch over on the main part of the fabric just the tiniest little bit, and then bring it through the turned under folded part. And you pull it taut but not too tight. If you pull it too tight it'll buckle. And then right above that, where it came out of the hem you put it through again, about a quarter of an inch away, you bring it through the fold again. You pull that taut, and again right above that, you put it though the main part of the fabric and then bring it through about a quarter of an inch away, underneath the roll of the hem. Now pull that taut. And again, above that, about a quarter of an inch away, bring it through the rolled up part of the hem. And then I'll show you what it looks like on the other side just because you can see it, just the tiniest little bit. If you're using matching thread it won't show hardly at all. So you just continue around to the end of the fabric and then you loop it off again with your three little stitches and that's how you do a hand sewn hem."