A month of mending: Day 2
Today while rummaging through my drawer to find something to keep the rain off my hair, I remembered that the hem was starting to fall loose on my favorite scarf. I happen to have matching thread for this fix which, despite the amount of sewing I do, is rare. The original hem is a very simple rolled hem held in place with a running stitch visible from the right side, but invisible on the rolled side of the fabric.
I’m anchoring my thread well back from the repair. When working with very delicate fabrics like this it’s important to use a slender needle so you won’t leave holes behind. It is a bit of a misconception however that you need a very sharp needle. It all depends on the fabric. Sometimes a ball point needle works better for very delicate fabrics, because it doesn’t catch the threads, it just slips between them. It’s worth your time to take a couple test stitches (without thread) to see which will work for your project.
After a few anchoring stitches and a well hidden knot, I’m rolling the hem back into place.
Mimic the appearance of the original stitches as best you can. But remember, nobody is ever going to be so close that they can tell you did it differently. To finish the repair, make a well hidden knot or two, then bury the thread tail inside the hem and clip it off.
Here’s a peek at a different version of a rolled hem, what I’ve always called a whipped hem. This is a 1921 copy of The New Dressmaker put out by The Butterick Publishing Company. It includes a section on mending and darning, which I’ll share with you when I get a nice day to photograph the pages (I don’t want to smoosh it in my scanner, the spine is a bit delicate).