Rolled Hem Riot

A hat trick: three littlies asleep at the same time.
I armed myself with some tools of the trade and snuck into the sewing room.
I did some rolled hems for the first time. Excuse the cloudy day, late afternoon pictures.


I just bought this sewing and knitting gauge. Oh my, what a great little tool and it was so cheap.
At $1.60 it was well worth the tiny investment. It even allows you to do scallops! (perhaps more on that later). Hemming and buttonholing will never be the same again.

I went to work on the lining of my silk dress. I know it's winter here and all but I am going to wear it this weekend for Baby J's christening. I had my sister pin up the hem for me the other day. Tips: When someone is taking up hems for you look straight ahead and keep your posture upright. You should also wear the shoes you intend to wear with the outfit.

So I ended up cutting about 5 inches off, as that is where I wanted the hem to finish and chalked the points along the hem so I knew where to cut off the fabric. There is no seam allowance included but you need to have the cutter in use in order for the fabric to roll under. Hence, rolled hemming? See, it pays to read your manual. *wink*

I also made the necessary adjustments on the overlocker for rolled hemming. This includes removing the chaining finger and setting the stitch length and differential feed to 1.0.

I did a test run on the scrap I cut off to adjust the tensions.

They ended up being 3 : 3 : 5 = needle, upper looper, lower looper.

The cutter was adjusted so there was just enough fabric to roll into the underside and be hidden in the stitches. You can't see it on the underside. If there was too much fabric it would look bulky and if there wasn't enough you can see the cut edge of the fabric in the underside of your stitches.

Once I got going it went pretty smoothly and I was in sewing heaven.

I really enjoyed doing this and can see lots of ruffles this winter and spring.

Now, for the actual silk dress. Ummm, I think I shall take a deep breath and use my straight stitch instead on the hem.

Have you done much rolled hemming? I'd love to see your projects.