In this video I am going to show you how to do a slip stitch hem. Slip stitch hems are
most commonly used on dresses and skirts but this stitch can also be used to sew bias binding
and to hand finish collars, cuffs and waistbands.
To begin our hem we need to be working from the wrong side of the fabric that is the inside
of our garment.
We turn the bottom edge of our garment up to the correct width and crease the folded
edge in place. In this example I am doing a double fold one inch hem, so I am turning
up the raw edge 1-inch and then folding it up again another inch.
I recommend doing your first fold the entire length of your garment before moving on to the second fold
as this helps to make sure that the hem is even all the way around.
With the second fold I pin in place as I go, making sure I leave enough space so I'm able to iron between the pins.
Next I carefully press the hem in place avoiding my pins. This creates a sharp, crisp edge
which will make the hem easier to sew.
When hand sewing it is important to remember to thread the needle before you cut your thread.
This helps prevent the thread twisting and knotting as you sew.
To begin sewing we work three small back stitches on top of each other on the folded top edge
of the hem, being careful to only catch the fabric of the hem and not the actual garment.
You can see here I work a small stitch and pull the thread through almost to the end,
leaving a small tail of thread. I then work another stitch in exactly the same place and
I use my thumbnail to stop the thread from the previous stitch being pulled out as I
sew. I work another stitch in exactly the same way and this secures the thread without
the need for a knot. And as you can see these stitches can not be seen from the right side
of the fabric.
I then begin working the slip stitch from right to left. I take a very small stitch
from the main Fabric of the garment only a few millimetres wide and a few millimetres
from my starting point. My next stitch is worked along the crease of the top edge of
the hem. I insert my needle a few millimetres on from my previous stitch and bring it up
about 2 cm along the crease of the hem.
I then pull my thread tight to make sure the hem is held securely in place.
As you can see only the very small first stitch is visible from the right side.
Alternatively you can work this stitch in one motion by first catching the fabric of
the main garment and then inserting the needle straight away into the crease of the hem fold.
This can take some practice to master so you may want to begin by working the stitch in
two halves.
Here’s the stitch again one half at a time, firstly catching the fabric of the main garment
and then pulling the thread through and then re inserting the needle along the crease of
the hem fold, making sure not to catch the fabric of the main garment.
This method is more time consuming so you will want to work towards working the stitch
in one motion as you get the hang of it. As you can see here you maneuver the needle into
the hem crease whilst fabric of the garment is still on the needle.
And once more, catching the fabric of the main garment inserting the end of the needle
into the hem fold and pulling the thread through in one motion.
You can see from the right side just how small and almost invisible this stitch is.
Once we’ve completed our hem we need to finish off our thread in exactly the same
way that we started off by working three small back stitches on top of each other only through
the folded fabric of the hem not the main garment.
and I get my snips and cut my thread
And you can see that’s nice and secure, and I get my snips and cut my thread and there we have it our slip stitch is complete.
One of the great things about this stitch apart from the fact it is quick and easy to
master, is that it is almost invisible from every angle creating a really neat finish
to our hem.
I hope you enjoyed this video and found this tutorial useful, see you next time.