Fixing a Hem - How to Mend Your Clothes While Self-Isolating Series: 5 Easy Stitch Fixes

Fixing a hem is a great skill to have, whether you're just trying to mend a garment or if you're looking to alter its length to fit you better! It's also pretty simple…so…you've got this!!

How to Fix a Hem

Depending on your hem, this may look a little different. Some hems are stitched to be visible on the front of the garment, some hems are folded and some are cover-stitched. For this example, the hem has a finished end and isn’t folded in on itself, so I’ll blanket-stitch the hem back into place. (Do you have a folded hem that is invisible from the front of the fabric? Look up slip-stitching! If your hem stitching is visible from the front of the garment, then your best bet would be finding matching thread and sewing it on a machine.)

How to blanket stitch: full disclosure…this stitch can be done much closer together, but since the fabric edge was already finished and the fabric was relatively sturdy, I spaced mine out pretty far. For the nicest finish, you can match your thread and catch the couple threads right above where you first go through the folded hem fabric. (There are great videos on YouTube for this as well).

1) Start with a threaded needle and knotted thread. Starting at the right of where your hem has come loose, pick up a couple threads from your garment (from the same level as the top of your hem) and pull through, securing your thread. Take your needle and move about a quarter inch to the left and down. Stitch through the top layer of fabric so your needle is sandwiched between the two layers of fabric. Before pulling the stitch completely through, put the needle through the thread loop, then pull to complete the stitch.

2) Repeat the stitch until you’ve repaired your hem! Use the same method to knot your thread as explained in the button fixing example: pick up a few threads (or in this case, stitch through the seam allowance), wrap your thread around the needle a few times, and pull your needle through to form a knot. Cut off excess thread! The stitch should be invisible from the front of the garment.

This blog is an excerpt from a post that was originally written for and featured on Remake. Please support their work and get more resources from them here.