Today I was hemming a dress for a wedding that I’m making. The satin I knew was too thick for the rolling foot that I had and would cause havoc at the seams when I got to them. So, I had to come up with a different plan.
Figure 1
Since satin frays easily, I had to trim off the long strands along the edge and then I zigzagged the edge. (see figure 1) My stitch length was approximately 1/4″. Yes, this is going to be a thicker hem line than the standard 1/8″ hem. If you decide to do this method make sure that you leave yourself 1/2″ at the bottom for the hem.
Figure 2
The zigzag on the hem serves two purposes. (figure 2) First of all, it prevents the edge from fraying any more. Secondly, it serves as a guide to the thickness of your hem when rolling your hem.
I figured that if I fold the bottom of the hem over the width of the stitching at the bottom and then a second time, move my needle over 2 positions to the left, I was able to hem the bottom of the dress almost as well as with a rolling foot.
Figure 3 shows the final hem before ironing all the wrinkles out. It measured a “fat” 1/4″. It looked perfect once it was ironed.
Figure 3
This is just another method of doing a rolled hem without using a rolled hem foot. Hope you try it out on your next garment and tell me what you think of this method!
Have a fabulous day!
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