Curved seams/hems - the hard way, by hand

**WARNING: Picture heavy. Click any pictures for biggerness.**

The night before my friend's wedding, I stayed over at her house, along with the three other bridesmaids, and Gosling. I was fairly certain by this point that I wasn't going to finish Gosling's dress, but I took it with me anyway, to work on while we were watching movies and eating junk. I'm a bit of a fidget, and find it very difficult to sit still - I have to be moving, all the time, and sewing counts as moving, meaning the rest of me stays fairly still, instead of constantly shifting in my seat, or bouncing my feet, or swaying my legs.

Anyway.

The other girls asked how I'd managed to get the yoke so flat - its very round, and round seams/hems have a habit of bunching and/or stretching. Thing is, I clip my seams. It takes a bit more time, but the end results are worth it. It also made the arm holes easier - clip hem and face, instead of binding with bias or trying to make the hem flat, neither of which work for me.

They didn't understand what I was talking about, and neither has anyone else I've tried to talk to about it, other than my mum (but she is a super-sewer so I would have been alarmed if she didn't understand - I'm serious, she once made a wedding dress and 7 purple tulle bridesmaid dresses).

I figure if that many people don't understand, maybe there are people out there googling how to get their seams flat, and maybe if I do this, it'll help them. It'll also provide me with a handy reference when I'm half asleep and can't remember how I did it.

So here we go!!



CURVED SEAMS/HEMS

Presumably, you have a curved piece of fabric, and either need it hemmed, or need to attach it to another piece as a seam. If you're just making a seam, you can ignore most of this, as all you need to do is CLIP.

The easiest way to hem a curve is to face it - you take another piece of fabric and use it instead of folding up your hem. So cut yourself a piece of fabric about the same shape as the curve you need hemmed. It doesn't need to be perfect, but it should be pretty close, or you'll still end up with those annoying wrinkles.


We'll start with an inside curve - like an arm hole on a sleeveless shirt.

There are two ways to do this. The first way takes longer, is harder, and (in my opinion, possibly influenced by my fear of the sewing machine) works much better if you do it by hand, but it is my preferred method, so I'm going to show you anyway. The other way will be explained with the outside curve (like the hem of a skirt) but the idea will work just as well for an inside curve. Why am I starting with the hard way? Because if you can do it this way, you can certainly do it the other way.

Mark your foldline on your fabric (if you use chalk, it doesn't matter which side - right or wrong - of the fabric you mark, as it will wash off. Do whatever is easiest for you to work with), then grab your scissors. Little ones work best.

If your curve is not a perfect circle, find the 'pointiest' bit, and cut a small triangle out of the 'hem' bit of your fabric at this place. Otherwise, just start in the middle. DO NOT CUT ALL THE WAY TO YOUR MARKED LINE.
**Note: on an inside curve like this, you CAN simply cut slits instead of triangles, but I find the triangles fray less and spread less, and if I always cut triangles, I don't have to remember whether to use triangle or slits**
**Note 2: This is the only bit you need for seams - with a slight change of order, as you sew your seam together, then clip, and tada you're done.**

Then continue all the way around your curve, cutting out triangles (or more slits). You can start each new triangle exactly where the last one ended (left side of photo), or you can leave a gap between them (right side), its entirely up to you, and doesn't really make much difference in the end. If you leave a gap and decide that your fabric is pulling too much later, you can always go back and cut more triangles (or slits if the gap is too small) in between. If you're cutting slits, just make them fairly evenly spaced, and fairly close together - about half an inch should be fine.

Now you need to tack down your hem. Fold it along your marked line, sewing as you go - big stitches, fairly close to the edge, about 1/4 inch. No need to knot the ends, as you'll just be taking it out later, but leave a decent tail so it doesn't pull out.

When you've finished, if you turn it over you'll notice the distinct lack of wrinkling or bunching. YAY, but you're not done yet. It looks very messy with that tacking stitch and the exposed edges on the inside, and will fray easily if it's put to use, so now you need to attach your facing. This is where it gets tricky, and may make you want to use the other way.

Put your facing over the inside, lining it up, and find the centre.

Turn the facing over, keeping the middle together, and pin it together. You only want it overlapping a little bit - no more than 1/4 inch. If you've done your tacking this far out, it makes a good guide.

Pin it together all the way around. It WILL be awkward and wavy. You can't help that. It will right itself once you fold it over. DON'T do the down-across-through pinning. Just poke the pin in, and push it all the way through like a nail, so you have heads on the INSIDE, on the facing, and points on the OUTSIDE - the proper fabric.points on one side, heads on the other

Now, sew it down. Easier said than done, as you only want to sew through the folded bit, not the outside bit. Sew as close to the edge as you comfortably can, and keep checking the other side to make sure you haven't gone through. Once you get a feel for the fabric, it isn't really that difficult most of the time, but if you can't manage it without going through, or you just prefer to have visible stitches on the outside, just make sure your stitches are small and neat, or use the machine so you can be absolutely certain its neat. If you really can't handle doing it by hand, the other way will work better.

TIPS:

Hand stitches: use two strands of thread, so if one breaks, the other is still there; either use backstitch the whole way, or a running/back combo - 3-4 stitches of each, alternating.

Use as similar coloured thread to your cloth as possible. That way, if you accidentally go through a little, it won't show as much.

Take out each pin just before you pass it - its easier to sew small stitches if the pins are not in the way, you don't need them any more once its sewn down, and the less pins you have, the less likely you are to stab yourself.

Once you've sewn all the way along, take out your tacking stitch, then fold down your facing. Depending on your fabric and your personality, you might want to iron it at this point. I don't bother, but might if it was a really floppy annoying satin.

So! You're almost done! All you need to do now is hem and secure your facing. This can be done all in one go, or separately. My husband went on a cleaning spree and threw out my practice cloth, so I can't demonstrate this bit for you with photos, but hopefully I can explain it properly and my awesome-mad-skillz drawings help a bit.

All in one go: Fold over a teeny tiny little bit of the free edge of your facing, making a tiny hem so the hem is on the inside, and sew through it to your cloth. You will be left with a visible seam on the outside of your piece, but you are FINISHED!

Separately: Fold over the same teeny tiny bit, and if you really want to be particular about raw edges, fold over again so the raw edge is fully encased. Sew this hem, and only this. Do NOT sew to your cloth. Once the tiny hem is sewn, you can sew the edges down - at the edge of your piece, at any seams (so you can attach it to the internal seam and don't go through to the other side) etc.

So there you go. Piece faced.