How to Get the Most from your Narrow Hemmer Foot

During the most recent project, I treated myself to a Narrow Hemmer foot #63 for my Bernina sewing machine. It was surprisingly easy to use, but I had to work out or learn some tricks to produce a nice, even hem, especially on a curved skirt edge. In this post, I'll share some tips that I hope will help you get more out of your narrow hemmer.

Note: I've made a video tutorial on how to use your narrow hemmer and uploaded it to the YouTube channel. Let me know if it helps! :)

10 Things to Do Before You Use Your Narrow Hemmer

As we all know, approximately 90% of the success of a project is in the preparation. To prepare to do a nice, neat, and trouble-free hem, here are 10 things you can do:

1. Pressing: Press your fabric flat so that there are no crumply bits getting in the way in the foot.
2. Cut a nice, clean edge.
3. Sit up high and directly in front of the needle, or even slightly to the left so that you can see what you're doing.
4. Use the flat bed on your sewing machine so that you have somewhere to keep control of the fabric.
5. If you have one, use your knee-lift for easy adjustments as you go along.
6. Set your machine to stop with the needle down if you can.
7. If you're hemming something with corners, turn them in and trim the excess. This makes it easier to get neat, bulk-free corners. The short sides of the triangle need to be 4x the width of your finished hem, plus 3mm (1/8") for turn-of-cloth allowance. I've tried other widths and they don't work. I've also tried this on a 6mm (1/4") hem, which I turned by hand because I don't yet have a 1/4" narrow hemmer, and the sides of the triangle have to by 24mm + 3mm = 27mm. That sounds like a lot, but it seems to work.
8. Staystitch any bias or curved edges 1/8" inch (3mm) from the edge. If you don't do this, they will stretch out and go very wavy. 
• Gently push the fabric towards the presser foot as you staystitch on curves. This will make it ease slightly so that it goes through the hemmer better for a curve.
9. Have some tissue paper or tearaway stabiliser at hand. You're going to use this for easy starts.
10. If your fabric is especially delicate, you may want to use some kind of stabiliser or wash-away starch.

The Easiest Way to Start Sewing with Your Narrow Hemmer

1. Finger-press the first 1.5" (3-4cm) of your hem as it will be sewn. For my foot, that means a double-turn of 3mm. This is the same whether you are starting on a corner, or a continuous hem, like on a skirt.
2. If starting on a corner, pin it to a little tissue paper and put in place under the presser foot, but not quite under the needle.
3. Sew on the tissue paper and then onto the hem.
4. If sewing a continuous hem, put it in place under the presser foot, and sew a few stitches.
5. When the needle is in the turned hem, raise the presser foot. Unfold the hem a bit and hook it round the scroll of the foot. Lower the presser foot.
6. Start sewing, holding the fabric curled slightly round your thumb, and the thread tails to the back of the machine. You may need to pull them slightly to help the initial feed through.

How to Sew With Your Narrow Hemmer

That was the hard part. The next bit is actually really easy, especially if you've stay stitched any curves and bias edges.

1. You guide the fabric as it enters the hemmer's scroll. While you can do this with one hand (as they did when hand-crank sewing machines were the norm) it's easier if your right hand holds the fabric slightly above the flat bed, and your left hand controls how much is going into the scroll, letting some in if more is needed, and pulling it back if too much is going in.
2. When sewing curves, stop every so often with the needle down; raise the presser foot to release the fabric round the curve, and sew a bit further. Repeat until you've hemmed the curved section.
3. When you get to a seam in your hem, stop with the needle down, raise the hemmer, and uncurl the fabric. Fold section with the seam and sew it down. When you get past it, wrap the edge round the scroll again, as you did at the start, and continue hemming.
4. To finish a skirt/continuous hem, when you are a couple of inches away from the beginning raise your presser foot and uncurl the fabric from the scroll. Lower the hemmer sew the last bit closed. Overlap your stitches by about an inch (2.5cm) to secure. Then you don't need to backstitch.

Now press your hem and admire how neat it is!

Hemming with one hand

I knew this had to be possible because I have an old sewing book (e-book version) from the 1920s with instructions for using a hemmer, and many sewing machines were hand-crank in those days.

This is how to do it:

Hold the fabric wrapped slightly around your left middle finger, and keep the curl aligned with the correct points on the presser foot. You want the right-hand-side to meet the inner right toe, and the raw edge to rough or just pass the inner left toe.

Take your time with this for a neat hem. You may have to life the presser foot sometimes to adjust the fabric.

Decorative Hems

If yours is a zigzag hemmer, there are several ways you can sew decorative tiny hems.

Shelled Hem

Perhaps the most popular way to use your narrow hemmer for a decorative edge is to make a shelled edge. Even a standard zigzag hemmer can make them on sheer fabrics. For slightly thicker fabrics, such as sheeting and shirts, you'll need a specific roll-and-shell hemmer foot, which has a deeper tunnel for the the hem to fit under.

To make a shelled hem, set your sewing machine for an overcasting stitch (it looks like a mirrored blind-hem stitch) and sew as shown above.

Parisian Stitch Hem or Picot Stitch Hem

If you have a fancy computerised sewing machine, you may have either a picot stitch or a Parisian hemstitch among your selection. They look like tiny blanket stitches (remember those from school?). The difference is that the Parisian hemstitch repeats the vertical stitches, while the picot stitch makes each stitch only once. There's no great technique to these; they're just very dainty.

Cording

The scroll on your narrow hemmer can accommodate a narrow cord, such as crochet yarn. On sheer fabrics you can create a beautiful effect with a metallic cord inside a shelled hem. Just wind the cord into the scroll and hem away. It also works with a straight stitch.

Once it's done, you can use the cord to gather the edge too. Possibly you could use shirring elastic, but haven't tried that to know how strong it would be.

You can also use your narrow hemmer as a couching foot in this way; don't hem, just sew anywhere on the fabric with a zigzag stitch.

Satin Stitch Scallop

This is another option that depends on your machine having a particular stitch.

In most cases, you can't use a satin stitch with your rolled hemmer because the stitching is too dense to pass under the foot with the hem. This stitch has all its bulk go under the tunnel, and works beautifully on sheer fabrics! It makes a neat, tiny scalloped edge.

Attaching Lace to the Hem

Similar to the corded hem, you put the lace just inside the scroll so that it gets caught in the hemstitching. You can then turn the lace down and topstitch if desired.

Using Your Narrow Hemmer to Make Faux-French Seams

This works similarly to attaching lace. You need your project to have 7mm (1/4") seam allowances, so trim them down if they're bigger. Offset the top piece of fabric by 3mm (i.e. the width of the hem your foot produces), and sew them RS together, essentially hemming the edge together. This wraps the bigger edge round the smaller one securely and gives a strong, neat seam in one pass!

If you have a wider narrow hemmer, you can use bigger seam allowances. For a 6mm hemmer, I'd use 12mm seam allowances. 

The finished seam will be slightly offset from the design line, so you may want to use different seam allowance on each piece it this is important.

So What Do You Think?

Have you tried using a narrow hemmer? Let me know what you think of the methods in this post and if they need improvement. :)