Hello Sewing Friends! It’s Tamar from Tamar Hope Designs! I’m excited to be back with the next serger series blog post! This month we will be talking about rolled hems. I love a good rolled hem. It is hands down the fastest way to hem anything. But it can also be a great finish for other things like exposed ruffle edges and flutter sleeves.
Set Up
Mastering a rolled hem is so easy. It takes very little practice. It does take a little bit of set up though. First, you will want to remove your stitch finger.
Next, remove the left needle (if you are using a two needle serger)
Now, you want to adjust your stitch length and width to the “R” for rolled hem.
Finally, adjust your tensions. You want the upper looper to be loose so that it can wrap around the edge of the fabric, and you want your lower looper to be tight so that it can pull the upper looper thread around to the back of the fabric.
In general, your lower looper should be between 1 and 3 and your upper looper should be between 5 and 8. You want the top of the fabric to be nice and smooth with the threads going around the edge of the fabric.
The back of the fabric will look a little different, but it should also be smooth.
If you are getting little loops on the underside of the fabric, your lowerlooper isn’t tight enough.
If your thread keeps breaking, the tension on the lower looper might be too tight. (make sure you are using quality thread though. Cheap thread will break more easily regardless of the tension.)
Sewing
Once your machine is set up and you’ve tested it out to make sure the tensions are good for your fabric, all you have to do is sew along the edge of the fabric.
If you are doing a hem, make sure to cut the hem allowance off using the seam allowance guides. If you are hemming a circle, continue stitching until you overlap with the starting point. Then pivot the fabric so you sew off the edge in a 90 degree angle.
To finish the edge, simply cut off the tails and use fray check to make sure it doesn’t unravel.
Finishing the edge in this way is perfect for exposed edge ruffles such as this one on Zinnia.
I just love the look of the exposed ruffles on Zinnia, and I adore finishing that edge with a rolled hem!
I also love using rolled edge hems for flutter sleeves such as the sleeves on Olearia.
If you are sewing a rolled edge hem on knit, make sure that you don’t stretch the fabric while sewing.
A lettuce edge hem can be a fun touch for shirt, dress, and skirt hems. All you have to do to achieve this look is stretch the fabric while sewing the hem.
Rolled Hems are so easy and can add a nice finish to your garments. Go give it a try!
Happy Hemming!
-Tamar