Creating a Lettuce Hem - Sew News

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Sewing Q&A

November 2003 Sewing Q&A Index
From Our November 2003 Issue

I would like to add a lettuce hem to some purchased T-shirts. I just have a regular sewing machine, not a serger. Can this be done?
Doris Z.,
e-mail

To "lettuce" a hem, press the fabric along the hemline and then stretch the fold as you satin stitch along the fold.

Set the machine for a 3 mm to 5 mm wide and a .5 mm to 1 mm long satin stitch. Use an embroidery or satin-stitch presser foot.

Press under the shirt hem allowance.

Holding the fabric in front of and behind the presser foot, stretch as you zigzag along the creased edge letting the needle fall off the edge of the fold on the right-hand swing. The more you stretch the fabric, the greater the lettuce effect.

If greater thread coverage is desired, stitch over the previous stitching, again stretching as you sew.

On the wrong side, trim the hem allowance close to the stitching.
November 2003 Sewing Q&A Index

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