Sew a Narrow Hem by Hand and by Machine

In the last post, we went over stitches to use for a basic hem. But some garments and some fabrics require a narrow hem. Really narrow, like ⅛” or 3mm. 

The best way to sew a narrow hem? That depends.

In this video, I demonstrate how to sew a narrow hem by hand, a narrow rolled hem, and by machine with a hemmer foot. The hemmer foot can be tricky but I’ve got some tips for that.

There are advantages to both methods. With the hand rolled hem you have complete control over the stitches so you can be sure the ends and corners are clean. This is important when the hem is going to be at eye level.

And the advantage of the machine stitched narrow hem is it’s a heck of a lot faster. Which is good when you have a lot of fabric to hem like a hem of a dress or skirt

The Close-ups and Details

The Narrow Rolled Hem

It’s a hand stitch but if you have a sewing machine start by machine stitching ¼ inch from the edge. The machine stitching serves as a guide and makes it a little easier to roll the edge. If you don’t have a sewing machine you can still sew a narrow rolled hem, of course.

Trim the seam allowance down by about half.

Use your thumb and forefinger of your sewing hand and roll the edge of the fabric toward the wrong side of the fabric. You want a small tight roll that swallows up the raw edge.

Be sure to roll up the line of machine stitches.

Use a slip stitch to stitch the roll down. The needle picks up a couple threads of the garment and then travels ¼ inch through the roll. It then pops out and takes up a thread or two of the garment. Then back into the roll for a quarter inch. Over and over.

Now there is another way to do this if you are working on stiffer fabric like a linen or fine cotton lawn. Start with the machine stitch and trim down as before. Instead of rolling the edge, fold it to the wrong side of the fabric. The line of machine stitching will be folded to the wrong side. Finger crease the fold.

Pick up about 2 threads of the fabric next to the raw edge. Then the needle goes up and diagonally and is inserted into the fold. Then back down into the fabric near the edge. Don’t pull the thread yet.

Make about an inch worth of stitches at a time before pulling the thread tight. When you pull the thread it will “roll” the edge for you.

Remember with either of these you want to keep your thread tension not too tight and certainly not too loose. It’s easy to pull them too tight. So watch out for that.

Machine Stitched Narrow Hem

To machine stitch a narrow hem you could measure, fold and press fabric under twice and stitch. Or you could use a hemmer foot.

Although it isn’t the easiest foot to use, once you practice and get the hang of it it will save you SO much time and burnt fingers.

The hemmer foot has a coil looking flange at the front. The coil determines the width of your narrow hem. Some machine manufacturers make an assortment of widths some make only one hemmer foot. Really, I say, one is enough.

You’ll want to watch the video for how to get started and how to hold the fabric so it feeds into the coil consistently. But to sum up

• With the hemmer foot on the machine, but the fabric flat and not in the coil, sew a straight stitch close to the edge for about ½ inch.
• Lift up the foot and pull the fabric back to the beginning. Do not clip any threads or remove the fabric.
• Guide, feed and wiggle the fabric into the coil. Grab the thread tails with your left hand to help pull the fabric into the coil.
• Once you have it in, lower the hemmer foot and sew. You want the raw edge of your fabric to hit the left groove of the foot. (again, see the video for a good visual)

I can’t tell you enough that this stitch takes practice to find what works best for you.

If you have a hemmer foot for your machine try it out – don’t be scared.

But if you enjoy some hand sewing, hemming by hand gives you more control. Either way, enjoy your sewing.