Twin Neeedle T-Shirt Hem

One hundred sewing and embroidery tips and tricks - #5

Do you struggle with standard, ready to wear T-shirts that are too long? Or, do you like to make your own knit tops from soft jersey or interlock knits? In either case you may have found that thinner knits in particular are tough to tame when it comes to top stitching hems. Here is a tip for stitching a nice, neat, twin needle hem. Begin by gathering your supplies:

• Stretch twin needle, size 75/11
• Fine, sheer, fusible tricot interfacing - I like Pellon 135.
• Two spools of good quality polyester thread and a bobbin to match.
• Rotary cutter and ruler for cutting tricot strips and cutting a straight edge for T-shirt hem.

Plan for a 1-inch hem on the garment and cut a 1-inch wide strip of tricot to fit hem circumference, making sure to cut length of tricot on the crosswise grain to maintain a bit of stretch.

Fuse tricot to wrong side of hem, having tricot even with cut edge.​
Tip:The rough side is the fusible, "glue side" of the tricot.

Important! Before inserting the twin needle turn on machine and make sure you have selected a  center needle straight stitch.  Increase length and  decrease upper tension slightly.

Thread machine for twin needle sewing. CLICK HERE to read my previous post with tips for threading.

Press up hem and mark raw edge with a pin.

Flip to right side and see where you need to position folded edge so both needles catch raw edge on the wrong side. Remove pin. See red arrows below.

Stitch slowly, keeping folded edge even with your guideline. See below for finished hem on right side. Note that sample is stitched with contrast thread for better visibility.

See below for finished hem on ​wrong side. Note that the bobbin thread zig zags between the two stitches formed by the needle. This provides the stretch factor. You'll find that the tricot beefs up the hem so the stitch forms more smoothly, the hem lays flat, and the stitches don't "pop" when stretched. This method does inhibit the stretch factor slightly so it's best used when you don't need a hem with an intensive stretch factor.

Have you ever tried this method? If not, do you think you will try it now that you have a little tutorial? Let me know in the comments below.