Technique of the week: Securing a Folded Hem

This blog has just gotten better! Once a week, I will be posting a useful sewing technique. It won't necessarily be something grand, but it might just improve your home sewing a little bit. Maybe it will remind you of a technique you once knew and can use again :-) So here goes! Bear with me as I improve my photography skills. Comments are so very welcome!

Technique of the Week: Securing a Folded Hem

Purpose: 
Secure the folded hem of a trouser / pant leg.
Most folded hems won't need this and will probably stand up on their own, but for drape-y flappy fabrics it may prove useful.
It's probably useful for other purposes as well (can you think of any)?

The technique in a nutshell:
Hand stitch a seam that will be invisible from the outside.

1. Fold over the folded hem, as when blind-stitching. Optionally pin or baste to secure this fold. 
2. Tunnel the needle through the folded hem, in between the two fabric layers of the folded hem.
3. Stitch through the fabric of the pants.
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 until done.  

Tutorial:

So here's what I mean by a folded hem. It's when you fold a lot of hem allowance inwards into the pant leg, in order to make a double layer of fabric, and then you fold a bit of it back out. Finally, you secure it at the side seam and inner leg seam. If this is not enough in order for the folded hem to stay upright where it should be, use this technique. 

pants with a folded hem

Note that the folded hem part is actually two layers of fabric.

Step 1: 

Working on the right side, fold over the folded hem, as when blind-stitching. Optionally, secure with pins or basting if you wish. We will be stitching along this fold. 

fold over the folded hem

optionally secure with pins or basting if you wish

Step 2: 

Tunnel the needle into the hem along this fold, between the two layers of fabric. The stitch is hidden between the two layers of fabric that make up the folded hem, so it won't be seen from the right side. You can use a stitch of approximately 7 mm in length or use whichever stitch length you're comfortable with.

tunnel the needle through the hem, between the two layers of fabric

after pulling the needle through

the seam cannot be seen from the right side

Step 3: 

The next stitch goes through the pant leg. Start it directly below where the previous stitch ended. It will be visible from the wrong side of the fabric.

stitch through the pant leg fabric

Step 4: 

Repeat steps 2 and 3 until done.

after making a few stitches

here's how it looks from the right side - can't see the seam at all

holds rather nicely, see? :-)

it looks like a running stitch from the wrong side (inside the pant leg)

holds rather nicely :-)

and you can't see it at all from the right side!

Yay! Simple, wasn't it?

Did you find this useful? 

Are there any other techniques you'd like a tutorial for?