Hems in infants' clothing may be turned on the right side and made ornamental by feather stitching.
No selvage should ever be used on a hem. The selvage is more closely woven and will draw or pucker in laundrying.
TUCKS
Tucks are folds made on thin material for ornament, to shorten or to provide for lengthening a garment. If done by hand, a card measure is preferable to a tape measure for marking the space and width of the tucks. The folds should be creased to a thread, basted and sewed with a running stitch showing but little on the face, or stitched on the machine. Fine thread should be used.
SEAMS
A seam is the line of sewing that joins material; it may be plain or ornamental. The most important are the overhand, felled, French, slot, lapped, flannel, and beaded.
The overhand seam is described under the overhand stitch.
Felled Seam
A fell is a seam hemmed down to the goods to protect the raw edge. It is usually made in night dresses, drawers, corset covers, etc. Baste with the piece farthest from the worker extended one-eighth of an inch beyond the other and sewed with the grain of the goods, beginning at the widest part of any bias. Press the seam with the nail on the right side, turn the wide edge down flat to cover the raw edge and line of sewing, and hem flat either by hand or machine. Care should be taken to keep the seam flat on the right as well as on the wrong side. If the felling is done with the machine hemmer, the wide edge must be on the opposite side. The seam may be basted with both edges even if preferred, cutting off one edge after stitching.