Fig. 13.—The way to hold the cloth while hemming.
Fig. 14.—This shows how
to start the hemming.
Fig. 15.—The hemming stitch.
Notice the slant of the needle.
Hold the cloth slanting over the fingers of the left hand, with thumb on top (Fig. 13). Begin without a knot. Put the needle up through edge of hem and allow one inch of end of thread to lie under the hem as you pull thread through (Fig. 14). This end will be worked over and held securely. Now you are ready for the stitch. Point the needle which is in your right hand towards the left shoulder. The point of the needle is passed first through the cloth under the edge of the hem, with a tiny stitch which shows on the right side. The needle, at the same time, catches the edge of the basted hem. This makes a tiny slanting stitch on the right side, so: /. The next stitch is taken about one-sixteenth of an inch from the first, in exactly the same way. As the thread carries from one stitch to the next, it makes a slanting line on the wrong, or hem, side but in the opposite direction from the stitch which shows on the right side. It slants like this: \
Together these two make this:
The part marked 1 shows on the right side of the cloth; and 2 on the wrong, where the hem is turned (Fig. 15). When the end of hem is reached, fasten with two or three tiny stitches. If the thread breaks, ravel out a few stitches and let the old end of thread lie under the hem. The new thread can then be started as at the beginning by putting needle in the hole of last stitch. There will be two ends under the hem to work over. The picture (Fig. 16) shows how to join a new thread. Find out how many places the hemming stitch can be used. Try it at home on something before next lesson.
Fig. 16.—The hemming stitch. Starting a new thread.
When this stitch has been well learned, it will be possible for the Girls' Sewing League to make many things.