Sewing Hemming Tool

I'd like to introduce you to several of my favorite tools that will make hemming a lot easier. Hemming is one of those mundane chores that I hate to do especially by hand, but it's a necessary evil if I want to finish my project. So, let me show you some tips to make it a little bit easier with these wonderful tools. The first one is the Dritz Ezy-Hem. This is particularly useful, it's usually used for hemming garments, that's what it was designed for, and it was designed by Edna Bryte Bishop, who was the originator of the Bishop Method of Clothing Construction, a very, very well-known, well-regarded method of clothing construction and this was a tool she came up with. The top of the ruler as you can see is curved and that's for any kind of curve tims that you might do. But the side that I use the most is the backside and it has measurements graduated from four inches down to five, eight, seven inch. And what you do is once you've got your edge turned under or you have your bias tape on, or your lace or however you have finished your edge of your hem, you go ahead and put this on your garment or on your home DEC projects such as if you're doing a valance for curtains. And then you merely fold your fabric up to the desired line. Typically, if we're doing a garment hem you're looking at about three inches for an adult so you have lots of hang and body for your garment especially if it's a dress. If it's a child, you might be doing closer to a two inch hem, but anyway, you just pull it up there. It is metal, so it conducts heat. So, you can take your iron and go ahead and press, and you will get a nice crease because the metal is conducting the heat. And it's also got a, not a sharp edge but a nice edge that gives you that knife crease. Remember, the metal will be a little bit hot, you take it out and then keep going down your hem. And as you can see, this gives you a beautiful hem very, very quickly rather than having to measure in several points with a traditional ruler. Another tool similar to this, I can't press with it is a quilters ruler. I like the three inch by 18 inch. And since three inches is such a popular hem depth, this comes in very handy. And once again, I can take and put it up to the edge of my hem and make sure I'm at three inches and then go ahead after I've got my hem adjusted, pull the ruler out and press my hem, pan it, whatever I need to do. But this is a godsend, I use this quite, quite frequently when I'm doing hems. When it comes time to actually hem, I've got two other tools that I use a lot. The first is my pin cushion, not so much to hold my needles and pins but because of the little berry on the end. It's filled with a course material, it works similar to an Emery board. And if you will run the edge or the end of your needle through it several times it sharpens the tip and makes it that your needle will just glide through the fabric. So use it, that's what that little thing is on the end of your pin cushion for, it will make your life a lot easier. And finally, whenever I'm doing hem I hate it when the thread breaks or knot, I just get so angry. So, I have found that the best thing in the world, I learned about this when I took a tailoring class is tailors' chalk, it's beeswax not tailors' chalk but it's beeswax wax that tailors use. It usually comes in a little container like this. You can find it at the local fabric stores. I think it costs maybe $3, It's worth every penny and it lasts for a long time. You take your thread before you put the knot in and you just run it through one of the slots just run it through a couple of times and I kind of hold it so that it's going through. And what you're doing is you're getting beeswax on there that strengthens the thread and makes it glide through the fabric more easily. And then when you press it, the beeswax simply melts, it does not stain. And you will find that you will have less frustration because your thread won't Knot, it won't break as easily or as often and you'll be able to get that unpleasant task of hemming done a whole lot faster with these wonderful tools.