Hand-Stitching Details
I’ve just completed an enjoyable evening of hand-hemming and finishing a skirt alteration for a barter situation for a dear friend. It occurs to me to share some details regarding hemming and hook stitching that I’ve worked out for myself over my 50+ years of sewing.
Less is Best for Hand Hemming
Note in the photo below that
There is no ‘hem tape’, or ‘lace tape’, nor even serging on this woven tropical weight wool 4 gore skirt hem edge. Instead, I stitched 1/4″ from a pinked edge with both hands in front – allowing for a slight ‘gather’ as I stitched. For me on my Pfaff with Integrated Dual Feed system, that meant NOT engaging the top ‘feed’. On machines without that feature, instead of the left hand in back, right hand in front to create a TAUT fabric feed – as I feel one should ALWAYS be doing….in this case, just keep both hands in front as you stitch. I used a 3.5 stitch length.
As a ‘rightie’, I’m working the stitch from left to right, but my needle is going in from right to left. I’m also working this Tailor’s Catch Hem BETWEEN the layers, NOT over the edge. Also, when stitching into the skirt itself, I pick up just 1 single thread. When stitching into the hem allowance, I take a larger stitch.
