Stress-free Blind Hem

Hemming is not a complex task. It is like icing on a cake. It can add to the beauty of the garment or ruin it. Today we will show you how we used the Janome Blind Stitch foot attachment for the serger that was designed to help with that critical step in garment sewing. It’s also a great foot to use when hemming draperies!

There are many hemming options available to try.

• Zigzag on the regular machine
  This finish looks ok on casual garments, but it does not have the commercial / ready-to-wear look people often want in garment sewing.

• Twin needle or cover stitching
  Looks great, but the technique can be tricky to master. Some “tunneling” can appear on lighter-weight knits. Also, twin needles can be harder to find and expensive, especially if you break one and need a replacement to finish your project. For a cover stitch, you need a cover stitch machine, which is a wonderful tool, but a bit much if you do little garment sewing or are a beginner. Today we will show you something that is affordable but also gives a great result!

• Blind hem
  The Blind Hem stitch is a stretchy stitch that is invisible from the outside of the garment. You can do it in two steps using a regular sewing machine plus a serger if you want a clean finish, but in this post, we will show you how to use the Janome Blind Hem attachment to do it in on pass and save time.

Sylvie pants pattern in kids/teens/adult sizes – Paper and PDF formats available // 1X to 5X available in PDF format

The Sylvie is the perfect pattern for this demonstration. A blind hem is our go-to option on a flowy knit, and it mimics what is often seen in pricy dress pants. The Janome Blind Stitch Foot helps you keep your stitching straight for a perfect hem, even in knits!

Janome Blind Stitch Foot

Preparation

Install the foot on the serger and remove the left needle. We’re using the Janome AT 2000D Air Thread serger, but this foot works on any Janome serger.

Testing and adjusting

It is always wise to test and adjust the guide on the foot on a scrap of fabric first. If too much fabric is caught in the seam, it will be very visible from the right side and not look good. You need to find the perfect balance. Adjust the screw of the guide to barely catch the fold as you sew.

Fold the edge of your fabric to the wrong side at the designed width of the hem.

Fold back towards the right side of the fabric so that the space between the raw edge of the fabric and the fold is the width of your serger stitch.

With the wrong side of the fabric facing up, align the folded edge next to the guide and stitch SLOWLY.

Make sure the needle catches all layers of the fabric but is barely catching the fold.

When you are done, unfold to flatten the hem into its final position and press.

You should only see a few dots of thread from the outside of the garment. The stitch can stretch, and the raw edge is finished with a nice overlock stitch.

Blind Hem troubleshooting

• If you see too many dots of thread: lengthen your stitch

• If you see gaps in the line of thread dots: make sure you catch the fold as you sew by keeping the folded edge of the fabric up against the adjustable guide of the foot.

• If there is a crease and you can’t open the hem seam to lay flat: catch less of the fold as you sew.

Preparing your piece for the perfect blind hem

After you have adjusted the guide (the screw adjusts the width between the guide and needle) and other settings, you are ready to hem!

Make sure you use thread in a matching color! As you saw in your test, even though it is barely visible, a difference in thread color would be noticeable.

Fold the hem to the wrong side at the width indicated in the pattern instructions and press.

Fold towards the right side as explained earlier. You may want to add some pins to make sure everything remains nice and straight, especially in a wide leg pants where you will want an even hem all around.

Here we are making a kid size in a cotton spandex jersey so we do not need to pin.

The guide helps you keep the fabric straight. Lengthening the stitch and using a thread in a matching color will also help you make it less visible on the outside at the end.

Don’t forget that practice makes perfect. You may need more than one pair of pants to master the technique and use the technique successfully.

You can use the blind hem technique on any straight hem. The Laurent t-shirt would be another great pattern with which to use your Janome Blind Stitch foot. It is a gender-neutral pattern that includes many styles and sizes from toddlers to adult 5X too.

Special thanks to Brightside Fabric Co for sponsoring the fabric for this post.

Janome Canada Artisans Jalie Patterns