I told my future daughter in law that I would hem fabric that her bridesmaids will wear as long scarves. She and her mother thought the bridal shop was being unreasonable....I'm now not so sure. It came today. It's a chocolate brown chiffon. GULP! Well, in all honesty, I knew what the fabric would be....but now that I'm faced with it......how in the heck can I do this??? Is there a way to do a hand rolled hem? How? My serger would have most of it chewed up before I got a few inches of rolled hem done. Help!
Do you have (or can you get) a rolled hem foot for your sewing machine?
The one for my machine looks like this:
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works like a dream, even on slippery stuff. You feed the edge of the fabric into the foot and it rolls it for you, and places it so the needle can stitch it down right at the edge.
Kathyl, try starching a bit of it really well, then use a rolled edge/very narrow hemmer foot. If you use a zigzag stitch that just barely goes over the edge of the rolled fabric, it sort of gives a scalloped effect. Practice a bit with the narrow hemmer to get the knack of it, you need to hold the fabric sort of curving into the foot.... wish I could show you how easy it really is. Also cut a triangle off the corner to start the fabric, or if you are going all around the thing, round the corners so that you don't have to worry about them, play to see how tight a curve you can comfortably do. If you start "in the middle" of a long stretch, to sew continuously around the fabric, plan to remove the first few stitches. It takes a bit to get the "roll" going, but just plan for it, when the fabric comes around almost to the beginning again, clip the stitches where it starts looking good, then pull the tails of the thread beginning. You may want to finish the last half inch with a regular foot, or just maneuver the fabric so that it finishes under the foot instead of through the roll part. You will see what I mean.
(I used to sew square dance clothes. Lots of ruffles, lots of narrow hems....... )
Oh.......I might even have one of those! If not, I'll go BUY one! Thanks Kathy! I was envisioning doing it all by hand and wondering if it would hold up.
Oh thank you! I've actually stopped hyperventilating! I think it sounds doable now. I might need to practice for a while first. And if it doesn't work...I might be looking up your address in the directory and having you name your price for a quick ship to AZ! :-) I'm putting this in my SAVE file.
The challenge isn't in rolling; it's the starting and stopping. For starting, you'll want to do a plain old straight stitch for about two inches. Then, put on the roll foot and use the beginning SM threads of your straight stitch to feed into the roller. That's easy enough. If you're doing a simple (yeah, right) rectangle, the corners can be the devil himself. If somebody can turn a square corner with a roll foot, I'll buy a ticket to watch that. What you do is one side. Then Another side. Then across. It's okay to use a hand needle and thread or FrayBlock on those stretchy, hairy corners. Don't worry about durability. Changes are really good that none of the bridesmaids would be caught dead or alive in those again. Polly
A 2 thread rolled hem on the serger is the best choice for very light, sheer, fabrics as it gives a more delicate finish on fine sheer fabrics.
If if you put a narrow band of water-soulable Solvy stabilizer under the chiffon, it will serge better. Also, if you use a thread like Wooly Nylon, it fill in better, too.
And make sure you are using new, sharp needles.
Please say you have enough to do some test pieces :)
I don't know if I have much extra. I may have to hijack some to practice. I'll look up the directions in one of my serger books and see if it's clear how to do a two thread rolled hem. I know there is a lever to move for rolled hem....and a foot too? I've had my serger since the 80's and haven't used it much except for some seam overlocking. One of my gripes about Berninas is their instruction books leave a lot to be desired.
Beautiful! Ok...I'll get out my manual and see what I can do with my serger. Gulp. I wish we were better friends...my serger and me....well, come to think of it...I wish you were my best friend and lived next door!!!!! :-)
My serger has a special foot and setting for doing a rolled hem. Are you *sure* yours won't do the same? If all else fails and you don't have a rolled hem foot, there is a fairly easy way to achieve a decent narrow hem on chiffon. First be sure to back your fabric stitching line with tissue paper. I cut up old tissue from gifts, etc. into about 2" wide strips because that's easier to handle :-). Once you have the tissue on the back of the fabric, sew a straight line of stitching, closely spaced stitches, about 1/4" from the cut edge of the fabric. Fold the raw edge of the fabric over (NOT the tissue), right along that line of stitching, press and trim close to the line of stitching. Now tear off the tissue that is not under the fabric and re-pin it to the left side of the stitched line. Fold the fabric over again to enclose the raw edge, press &/or pin and sew as close as possible to the folded over edge. Now you can tear off all of the tissue and you have a very narrow hem along the edges of the chiffon. OPTION TWO -- do a fairly short, very narrow zig-zag satin stitch along the cut edge of the fabric. Now trim off any threads that stick out, fold THAT line of stitching to the inside and stitch over it again with a short, narrow and closely spaced zig-zag satin stitch. If done properly this looks like a fairly decent rolled hem. It can take a bit of getting used to so you might want to practice on some scrap chiffon or just go buy 1/4 of the stuff at the fabric store -- it's not really very expensive. Good luck and let us know what you finally end up doing, OK? CiaoMeow >^;;^<
PAX, Tia Mary >^;;^< (RCTQ Queen of Kitties) Angels can't show their wings on earth but nothing was ever said about their whiskers! Visit my Photo albums at
Yes, my serger has a setting for a rolled hem. It's a little lever that is moved forward. I don't think there is a special foot. I'll have to double check that. My manual didn't mention a foot in the VERY brief "rolled hem" section. I have a Bernina 335 in case anyone knows more about that model. It's from the late 80's. I did a little practicing on my sewing machine with the rolled hem foot. I can see it would take some manipulating to keep the fabric feeding evenly. I also tried my serger with the thread that was in it and it didn't seem too bad either. The trick will be working up the courage to cut up this fabric and actually start working on it. The wedding is in November. However, I'm also making 150+ of the treasure boxes as favors for DD's wedding in December. I truly appreciate everyone's input. Truly!!!
Just a suggestion that might take the edge off KJ - maybe you can buy
1/2 yard or so of some inexpensive or on-sale similar chiffon to test with on your serger. That way you can get it set up 'just right' and then serge the 'real thing.'
I think that's EXACTLY what I will do Irene. I think I'm using the right name for the fabric. It has a nice drape to it; not flyaway, floaty. But it is see through sheer. I also think I might invest in some of the dressmaker shears that have a serrated edge for cutting slinky fabrics. Something I don't have in my arsenal...amazing. :-) Thanks for your help and encouragement.
Good idea, Kathyl. I keep a pair of serrated just for cutting batting; you'll still enjoy having them around when the wedding invasion is past. Using the serrated on batting helps keep the keen edge on my dressmaker shears a little longer (I tell myself). Polly
"KJ" I think that's EXACTLY what I will do Irene. I think I'm using the right
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