Blind hemming inside the fold

A blind hem hides the stitches completely – even inside the garment. Prepare the hem as usual, but stitch it with the hem edge rolled back on itself: fold the top 6 mm of the hem edge back towards you and work in the valley between hem and garment. Take a tiny bite of the garment (one or two threads), then a small bite of the inside of the hem fold, alternating, with the thread travelling loosely between. When you let the fold roll back up, every stitch is enclosed – nothing shows on either surface, and nothing can snag in wear or washing. Keep the stitches slightly loose: a blind hem that is pulled tight dimples the right side.

Catch stitch (herringbone) for stretch and bulk

Catch stitch – known in embroidery as herringbone – is worked left to right (the reverse of slip stitch) in little crosses: a tiny bite of the garment above the hem edge, then a tiny bite of the hem below, the thread crossing itself between. The crosses let the hem move: use it on knits and stretch fabrics, where a rigid hem would pop, and on thick or loosely woven cloth (coats, heavy cotton, raw silk), where it holds a single-fold or pinked edge flat without a bulky second fold. It is also the stitch for hems that are let down and taken up often – school uniforms – because it survives strain. Left-handers work it right to left; the crosses come out the same.

The saree fall

In India, the most common paid hand-hemming job is the saree fall: a cotton backing strip, about 5–8 cm wide and 2–2.5 m long, sewn inside the lower border at the pleats end. It protects the edge from shoes and floor, and its weight makes the pleats fall straight – hence the name. The fall is attached with exactly this lesson’s stitches: slip stitch along both long edges, in thread matched to the saree, with nothing showing on the right side of what is often fine silk. Pre-shrink a cotton fall before attaching it (dip, dry, press), or the first wash puckers the saree edge; tack it along its centre first so it cannot creep. Studios take in fall-stitching daily – it is this lesson’s drills, done for money.

Hem conventions: women’s, men’s and children’s wear

• Women’s wear: hems are usually invisible – slip stitch or blind hem on kurtas, skirts, dresses and blouses. Depth 2–4 cm; deeper hems (4–5 cm) help fine fabric hang well.
• Men’s wear: trouser hems are commonly 3–4 cm, blind-hemmed or machine blind-hemmed so nothing shows; kurta and shirt hems are often narrow machine hems, but a hand finish is used on fine kurtas. A trouser hem must never show stitches on the right side.
• Children’s wear and school uniforms: leave generous hems – 4–5 cm or more – so the garment can be let down as the child grows. Catch stitch or a sturdy slip stitch; strength matters more than invisibility. Press the old crease out with a damp cloth when letting down.
• Which side does it fasten? That convention belongs to buttons, not hems – see Buttons, hooks and press studs.

• Left-handed? Slip stitch and blind hem: work left to right instead of right to left. Catch stitch: work right to left. In every case the bites and the hiding of the thread are unchanged – only the direction of travel flips.
• Fell stitch vs slip stitch: fell stitch takes a small slanted stitch through fold and garment together, showing a neat slanted row inside; slip stitch hides its travel inside the fold. Fell is a touch stronger, slip a touch more invisible. Both are correct; this course treats them as one family.
• Rolled hems: on chiffon, georgette and dupatta edges, the hem is rolled tiny (2–3 mm) between the fingers and slip-stitched as you roll. A later fine-finishing skill – the slip stitch you learn here is the engine of it.
• Hem tape and lace: where cloth is too short for a second fold, sew hem tape or lace to the raw edge and hem the tape up instead. Common when letting down children’s uniforms.
• Machine blind hem: most machines have a blind-hem stitch and foot; it appears in the machine modules. Hand blind hemming remains the finer finish on good garments.

• Press before, during and after. A pressed fold practically hems itself; an unpressed one fights every stitch.
• Make a card gauge: cut a notch at your hem depth in a card and run it along as you fold – steadier than a ruler.
• Two threads of the garment, no more. If you can see your bite easily, it is too big.
• Match thread to the garment, not the hem allowance – the right side must stay clean.
• One shade darker when a perfect colour match does not exist.
• Keep the travelling thread inside the fold (slip stitch) or in the valley (blind hem) – exposed travel threads snag in wear and washing.
• Loose beats tight on hems. A slightly loose hem hangs soft and invisible; a tight one dimples the right side.
• Hang the garment overnight before hemming anything bias-cut or flared – the hem drops unevenly first, and you level it after.
• Mark hem length on the wearer, shoes on, standing straight – not on the table.
• Tack the hem up and check in a mirror before the final stitching – especially trousers.
• Backstitch every 15–20 cm within a long hem: one tiny lock-stitch on the fold, so a snagged thread opens one section, not the whole hem.
• Pre-shrink falls and tapes before sewing them into anything washable.
• On slippery silk, hem over your finger: curl the hem edge over your index finger – the curve exposes one thread of the garment at a time.

Stitches show on the right side.

1. Unpick the showing section – do not try to hide big bites by pressing.
2. Resew taking only one or two threads of the garment per bite, in better-matched thread.
3. Prevention: check the right side after every 10 cm of hemming, and test bite size on the seam allowance first.

A row of dimples or dots shows on the right side.

1. The thread is too tight. Run the needle tip under the stitches inside and ease a little slack along the row.
2. Press from the wrong side over a towel to relax the dimples.
3. Prevention: pull each stitch only until it lies flat; on blind hems, leave the thread visibly relaxed.

The hem hangs unevenly – deeper here, shallower there.

1. Measure the depth all round with a gauge and re-fold the wrong sections.
2. If the garment is flared or bias-cut, level the hem on the wearer (or a hanger) and re-mark before re-folding.
3. Prevention: gauge-measure and pin every few centimetres, and let bias garments hang overnight before hemming.

The hem puckers along the fold.

1. On a curved hem, the inner fold is too full: ease the fullness into tiny gathers or small darts inside the hem, then restitch.
2. Press the fold over a curved surface (a rolled towel) to shrink in the fullness on wool and cotton.
3. Prevention: on flared hems, keep the hem shallow (1.5–2 cm) – deep hems only fit straight edges.

The hem falls down after wear or washing.

1. Rehem the fallen section, overlapping sound stitching, with waxed thread and a lock backstitch at each end.
2. Check what failed: bites that took only the fold, thread that snapped, or a snag. Fix the cause, not just the gap.
3. Prevention: bite the garment cloth (not just the fold) at every stitch, wax the thread, and lock-stitch every 15–20 cm.

The saree edge puckers after the fall is attached.

1. If the fall was not pre-shrunk, remove it, wash and press it, and reattach.
2. If the stitching is tight, ease the thread along both rows and press the border flat.
3. Prevention: pre-shrink every cotton fall, tack it along its centre first, and stitch with relaxed tension.

Catch stitch crosses look uneven and the hem twists.

1. Unpick the uneven stretch; uneven crosses pull unevenly.
2. Resew keeping the two rows of bites on two imaginary parallel lines, crosses evenly spaced.
3. Prevention: chalk two faint guide lines, one on the hem and one just above it, until even crosses are automatic.

The thread keeps snagging inside the fold and bunching.

1. Shorten the travel inside the fold to 6 mm and pull through slowly.
2. Wax the thread and switch to a finer needle that slides inside the fold easily.
3. Prevention: keep travel runs short and the thread elbow-length; long thread dragged through a fold always bunches.

Mistakes

• Hemming an unpressed fold and blaming the stitch for the wobble.
• Big bites of the garment – the single most common reason hems show.
• Contrast thread “because it’s inside” – every bite still reaches the right side.
• Hemming tight, printing a dotted line of dimples around the garment.
• Cutting away growth room on children’s clothes to make a thin hem.

Myths

• “Machine hems are always better.” A machine hem is faster; a hand hem is softer and invisible. On fine garments, trousers and sarees, hand hems remain the finish of quality.
• “A hem must be tight to be strong.” Strength comes from small bites in sound cloth and locked sections – tightness only causes dimples and snapped threads.
• “The saree fall is decorative.” It is structural: protection for the border and weight for the pleats. That is why it must be pre-shrunk and matched – it works every time the saree is worn.

1. The folded strip: prepare a 30 cm double-fold hem on a cotton strip – gauge, pin, press, tack. No stitching yet; the fold is the drill.
2. Slip stitch 30 cm: hem the strip with slip stitch, bites of two threads. Check the right side: nothing should show at arm’s length.
3. Blind hem 30 cm: the same on a second strip, worked inside the rolled-back fold. Check both surfaces.
4. Catch stitch on a knit: hem a T-shirt scrap with catch stitch, then stretch the hem gently – the stitches should give, not snap.
5. The mini fall (harder): slip-stitch a 30 cm strip of pre-shrunk cotton to the wrong side of a fine-fabric scrap along both edges, with nothing showing on the right side.
6. Real garment (hardest): let down and re-hem a child’s uniform or an old trouser, level, invisible and locked.

As a hobby: hemming is the most-used skill in any home – trousers for the family, curtains, dupattas, school uniforms let down each year. One evening of practice repays itself for life, and a hand-rolled hem on a gifted dupatta is a touch no shop garment has.

For earning: hems and falls are the steadiest alteration work there is. Trouser shortening, saree fall stitching, uniform adjustments – customers return every season. The craft bar is simple and strict: level depth, matched thread, nothing visible on the right side, and a hem that survives washing. Meet it consistently and hem work alone builds a client list.

For teaching: teach the fold-gauge-press routine before any stitch, or students learn to blame their hands for crooked folds. Slip stitch first, blind hem second, catch stitch on a knit third. The mirror check – “can you find the hem from outside?” – makes a satisfying pass/fail test learners can run on themselves.

• Press the finished hem from the wrong side, with a pressing cloth on silk and dark colours, so the fold edge does not shine.
• Do not press a sharp crease into knit hems – steam and pat them flat instead.
• Remove all tacking before the final press.
• On letting down hems, sponge the old crease with white vinegar solution and press under a damp cloth; traditionally said to remove the line, though deep creases in some fabrics never fully go.
• Check hems each wash season on daily-wear garments; relocking one loose section takes two minutes.

• Is your hem depth even all round, measured with a gauge?
• From the right side, is your slip-stitched hem invisible at arm’s length?
• Does your blind hem hide its stitches on both surfaces?
• Does your catch-stitched knit hem stretch without snapping?
• Is your thread matched (or one shade darker), single and waxed?
• Does the hem survive a wash without dropping?

Six yeses and you can hem anything in the wardrobe – and charge for it.

• Double-fold hem: the raw edge turned under twice – a small fold, then the depth fold.
• Hem depth / allowance: the height of the finished folded hem.
• Slip stitch: tiny bites of the garment with the thread travelling hidden inside the fold.
• Fell stitch: a small slanted hemming stitch through fold and garment; slip stitch’s close cousin.
• Blind hem: stitches worked inside the rolled-back fold so nothing shows on either surface.
• Catch stitch (herringbone): crossed stitches that let a hem stretch; for knits and bulky cloth.
• Saree fall: the cotton strip sewn inside a saree’s lower border for protection and weight.
• Bite: the one or two threads of garment cloth a hemming stitch picks up.
• Gauge: a notched card or ruler used to keep hem depth even.