tutorial

So I see this really neat, narrow hem edge with a satin stitch a lot on professional garments – store bought things. For Lolita, it’s the perfect kind of hem for a lot of things. But how in the heck do you recreate what’s called a Merrowed hem without the Merrow machine?

This can be done with a rolled hem function on some sergers. Unfortunately, I found out my serger does not do quite so tight of a stitch. I have a Janome Magnolia serger. The Brother 1034D is about half the price and does do it. Feeling a little foolish, I didn’t want to just break down and buy the Brother serger. So I figured a makeshift way of achieving a similar look on my own sewing machine with a satin stitch.

The Merrow hem is also called a purl stitch in sewing, or a satin stitch. Also a narrow hem stitch, however this could also be just a straight stitch with a narrow rolled hem foot (which I have and love).

I was working on some ribbed jersey knit fabric for a Lolita bolero. Since it’s so thin, and stretchy, it’s a little awkward to try to fold the hem and stitch it that way. I wanted something that was a little prettier, and lighter. So I thought to try a satin stitch and trim off the edging. Because it stretches, it’s really hard to keep it straight and even.

So I got an unintentional curly edge, which would be fine if I wanted it that way – and if the stitches were even. Alas, they were not, and I needed to find a better way to do this than just blindly feeding it through my sewing machine.

Of course! It’s essentially like embroidery, so what do people do when they embroider on their sewing machine. They use stabilizer! With a temporary spray adhesive for fabric, and a water soluble stabilizer, I made another attempt.

The difference was quite amazing, and very pleasing.

So now, after waiting for these two vital things to finally come to my doorstep (I have to order most specialized things online  -_-) I can finally finish working on my bolero . . . that I’ll most likely end up selling. But we’ll see!