It's Not SCARY: Rolled Hems

Rolled hems are a skill you will use over and over and over! I would be lost without rolled hems in my sewing repertoire.  Rolled hems can be done on both your serger or sewing machine.  While a rolled hem on the serger is more common, today I am mostly addressing rolled hems on your sewing machine.

But first, just a quick word about rolled hems on your serger.  Because every serger is different, I can’t tell you how to set up your serger for a rolled hem, but your serger manual will!  If you have the popular Brother 1034D serger, here’s a quick tutorial that may be of help to you.

Now for sewing a rolled hem on your sewing machine!

• First, you’ll need a rolled hem foot.  These are readily available for almost all sewing machines and are available in a variety of widths.  For a narrow rolled hem use a 1/8″ rolled hem foot.

• To start sewing a rolled hem, press a very narrow hem (about 1/8″) just on the first 2″ or so of your fabric to be hemmed.   This will help get your rolled hem started easily.

• Attach the rolled hem foot to your sewing machine and lengthen stitch length as you normally would for topstitching.  I like to use a 3.5 stitch length.  Place the fabric under the presser foot. The needle should be just catching the hem.

 

• Take a couple stitches, I like to backtack to secure my stitches. Then lift the pressed bit of hem so that it starts feeding through to ‘roll’ on the rolled hem foot.  Take the next few stitches slowly and ensure that the fabric is feeding through the roll.  You should progress from something like the first picture to the second picture.

 

 

 

•  The fabric is now feeding correctly and ready to continue sewing a rolled hem, the hardest part is done!  Continue sewing and guiding the edge of fabric into the roll.  I find it best to hold the edge of the fabric at an angle as seen below to ensure a good roll.

 

• And that’s it! Sew to the end and admire your beautiful narrow rolled hem!  I’ve used a contrasting thread to help you see how close to the folded edge the stitching ends up.

 

 

A narrow rolled hem can be used over and over and over again in Tie Dye Diva patterns.  It’s great for finishing flutter sleeves on the Easy Peasy Peasant Dress or Butterfly Dress Patterns.

Try it on the ruffles of a Ruffled Diaper Cover (pictured with the Open Back Baby Dress) or Ruffled Baby Romper

Or the ruched hem of Perfect Party Dress

 

I used a serger for this one, but a machine narrow rolled hem would also work wonderfully.

There are countless other Tie Dye Diva Patterns where a narrow rolled hem will come in handy too! So, grab some scraps and give a narrow rolled hem a whirl!  It really is NOT SCARY!