Using Fusible Hem Tape in Place of Stitching

Using fusible hem tape is a great alternative to hand sewing a hem in place. Or if you just want to do a hem and make it invisible, and not have any stitching seen on the right hand side of the fabric, you can do that using fusible hem tape. So fusible hem tape, you should normally come in a package, something similar like this. It comes on a roll and they are in different sizes. So you can see, this one here is much narrower. This one is much wider. Now you do want to check that you are using the correct type of hem tape for your fabric that you're using. So there will be different weights. And depending on the different manufacturer, they can be called something else. They can either say, "for heavy fabrics, for light fabrics," some indication of what kind of fabric you should be using it for. So down in the bottom corner on this specific brand or this particular brand, it does say that it is for heavy fabrics. The other thing that you want to check and make sure is that you're getting permanent fusible hem tape. So they do make tapes that are meant as more of a basting tape to sort of temporarily hold things in place. But if this is what you wanna use as an alternative to stitching, you wanna make sure that it is a permanent iron-on adhesive. So once you select the one that is the correct width for the hem that you are wanting to do, then you just need to do some pressing. So, no sewing machine required. I'm just going to do some pressing. So I already have one hem that is pressed in place here. And this is a roughly 1/2 inch or 5/8 inch double fold hem. So you want to make sure that you're always using the hem tape that is smaller than the hem that you are wanting to fuse in place. What I mean by that is that you may not be able to find a 5/8 inch hem tape, or maybe you can't even find a 1/2 inch hem tape. And if your only options are a 1/2 inch or a 3/4 inch, then you need to be using the one that is smaller than the hem that you were wanting to press in place. So you have your hem. It's already pressed in place. Now you need to just get your hem tape. Now this is a fusible adhesive and it fuses on both sides, meaning you never want it to touch your iron. So before you have even brought in your iron or in any way heated up this fabric at all, you want to go ahead and cut the appropriate length of hem tape. So I've lined up my edge here. I'm gonna come over and snip right here at this edge. I'm actually going to come in about an 1/8 of an inch inside where my fabric ends, because again I definitely wanna make sure this never touches my iron. Now I can go ahead and bring in my pressing surface and my iron, and I'm going to get my fabric ready. So I already have my double fold hem pressed in place here and now I need to insert my hem tape underneath the flap that I have made. What I wanna do is since this hem tape, I had to go with the 1/4 inch 'cause they didn't have the exact width that I wanted, I wanna make sure that rather than having my hem tape all the way up here in the crease, I want it as close to what is going to be the lower folded edge as possible. So this edge here, when I fold it down, is my lower folded edge. So I wanna make sure my hem tape is just right along that edge. That way I don't actually have my hem sort of flapping up a little bit. I wanna make sure that it is secured down as much as possible all the way along. So I'm gonna go ahead and just sort of use the heat of my fingers to hold it in place temporarily. Then I can fold it down, making sure that all of my hem tape is covered, that no little ends are sticking out on the ends here or down underneath. And I'm gonna bring in my iron. Now, there usually is instructions on the packaging for your fusible hem tape, as to what you want your iron setting to be on. Normally, it's a medium, medium-high heat, generally a dry iron, though sometimes it doesn't necessarily matter if you use steam for these. If for some reason yours did not come with any kind of instructions at all, treat it like you would a fusible interfacing and set your iron to those similar settings. Once you feel like you have fused it in place enough, to check, go ahead and just use your fingertips and make sure that no edges are coming up. So a little bit of an edge is coming up right here on this end, where I wasn't ironing as much. So I'm gonna go ahead and bring my iron back in. I'm going to set it there for a little bit, let it press, and now I can take it away. Go ahead and let it cool a little bit, because one thing that can be deceiving is that you think it's lifting up, but it's really just the fact that the fusible adhesive hasn't dried yet. And that's what you're actually peeling away. Once you give it a second, you can go ahead and just flick with your fingertip. You can even come in with your scissors, and as long as it's not moving, you know that it is securely fused in place. So that's how easy it can be to put a hem onto whatever it is you're making, whether it's a home decor or a garment, and be able to fuse that hem in place permanently, and not have to see any kind of stitching at all.