how to : sew a baby hem

One of the benefits of an internship (one of the million benefits, I should say) is learning amazing techniques you may not otherwise stumble upon elsewhere.  Today I learned a method of sewing a baby hem (or a narrow rolled hem, used for hemming chiffon and very delicate fabric) from Sam and the Row's amazing tailor, Ivan.

In the past, my baby hems have always been ugly.  Frayed ends stick out, the fabric stretches and then curls, and the hem width is horribly uneven.  The trick?  You need something called ban roll, a starched plain-weave tape.  Here is how to use it!

The first step is to prep the ban roll - you will use it to sew the seam, but you will remove it afterwards, so you can use it over and over again (hence buy a large amount, like 5 yards, to cover the maximum amount of hemming you'd ever need for a very full skirt, and you only need to prep once).  Start by trimming off one edge, where the threads are woven a little tighter.  The beauty of ban roll is that it allows you to sew a baby hem as small as possible.  To achieve this, the next step is pulling out around 3 of the lengthwise threads.  You will end up with something that looks like a very short comb, as in the right hand picture.  Since most baby hems are preferred as small as possible, three threads should be all you need to remove (you can remove more, however).

The next step is done incorrectly in the photos, but I will show them anyway for clarification.  Here, you can see that I lined up the ban roll to the edge of the chiffon and pinned (like you would hem tape).  However, for a cleaner finish (and no risk of sewing into a frayed edge that will later come undone), you would really want to pin the ban roll about half an inch from the chiffon edge, so the stitches will catch fabric that has not frayed for a more secure hem.  In the second picture, you can see how the ban roll lines up with the needle - the next step is to stitch up against the woven part of the roll.  You want to make sure your stitching stays within this "comb area", and not into the woven area, because you will be pulling it out later.  If you stitch into the woven area, you cannot pull it out! 

This is where the magic happens.  The next step is to flip the ban roll to the inside, against the wrong side of the fabric, once again just as you would hem tape.  The baby hem, therefor, will wrap around the comb part of the ban roll (which is why it is ideal to only remove about 3 threads or so - again, you can do more, as you are in control of where you place your stitch line, but I found it easier to line up my needle with the edge of the woven section so I kept the comb the width of my desired finished hem).  Once you have wrapped the fabric over the comb section, stitch right down the middle as in the right hand picture.

Once your stitching is finished, press the hem with the ban roll still intact.  Then, carefully pull out the ban roll!  If you stitched correctly, you will have only sewn onto the comb section, and not into the woven section - thus holding the roll into the hem just enough to sew, but then once finished it can simply be pulled straight out!  In the second photo, you can see just how narrow the finished baby hem is - and how straight!  The ban roll is sturdy and does not allow the delicate fabric being hemmed to stretch at all.

I cannot even begin to say how much this technique will impact my sewing skills!   The hem before had always been something I'd dreaded - because I was not proficient enough to sew them beautifully, to me they ruined my garments after they looked almost perfect.  One of the seamstresses swears by ban roll - and sews every seam with it.  Now I can see why.

Hope this makes sense! 

how to : sew a french seam

I sewed my best French seam yet today, in a crinkled silk chiffon.  Rather than show it off, I figured I'd take pictures along the way to show how one is done.

A French seam is a method of seam finishing used especially for sheer or fine fabrics that may fray easily, or for garments that want a couture inside finish.  For more commercial garments, serging is used (look inside your t-shirt or jeans).  But inside of an evening gown, you will see seams like the French or Hong Kong finish, for a more elegant treatment.

French seams are easy in theory, but difficult in practice.  The basic idea is a set of two seams: one to create the seam, and a second to capture the raw edge of the original seam allowance.  Here is how to sew one!

Your first step is to sew your fabric wrong sides together.  Later, you will be flipping it so it will be right sides together.  When I first learned French seaming I did this backwards all the time.  Calculate your seam allowance carefully - if your pattern allows for a half inch, realize that your final seam will probably be about 3/16" so sew your initial seam minus that final seam measurement. 

After you sew the initial seam, press the seam flat (this is a wonderful trick - before opening up the seam to press open the seam allowance as usual, run the iron straight up the stitch line.  This helps balance the stitches, so you will never end up with a rippled seam.)  Then, while the seam is still closed, trim away the seam allowance as close as possible - usually 1/8" will do.  Then open up the seam and press. 

Now you will sew your fabric right sides together.  Fold the fabric with your fingers (first picture) so that the seam line is directly on the fold line, and pin.  Rather than trying to iron it this way first, I find it is easier to iron it completely flat and then bend at the stitch line - it will bend quite easily and naturally here.  Stitch 3/16" away from the fold.  Your trimmed seam allowance is 1/8", so if you stitch 1/16" away, you trap it inside the stitched channel so fraying is prevented, and a beautiful clean finish is created. 

I find this works easiest in sheer fabrics - not because they are easier to sew, but because you can see your trimmed seam allowance and know exactly where to guide the foot.  In the second picture, you can see how my needle mark is lined up just outside the trimmed allowance. 

The other benefit to sheer fabrics is you can check yourself as you go - hold the fabric up to the light, and make sure your seam allowance doesn't travel beyond your stitch line.  If it does, when you press the final seam you will have little "fuzzies" escaping the seam.  These look very awful!  If working with an opaque fabric, do not fret - simply make sure your measurements are perfect, and you should be fine.

When you are finished stitching, balance and press your stitch line once again.  You should have a seam with what appears to be a very thin pin-tuck running the length of your fabric, on the wrong side. 

Turn your fabric to the right side and press your seam open like any normal seam.  The result (on the outside) should be a perfectly regular seam (unless your fabric is sheer, in which case you will see a very fine and delicate line of allowance).  On the wrong side, you have the enclosed seam that looks like a pin-tuck.  Check for fuzzies and trim if you can.  If not, you may need to go back and adjust your stitch line.

 And you are done!  French seams are truly beautiful and take a good amount of concentration and patience - but they are worth it.  I personally love being able to see them through sheer fabrics, because to me they are like a thin skeletal outline of the construction of the garment (like pencil lines on a sketch).  They also give the inside of a garment the effect of being as nice as the outside.  After all, it's the inside that counts.