How to Hem Knit Fabric: 3 Ways

Learn how to hem knit fabric three different ways and which one is my favorite. Each works for different fabric for the perfect hem.

I have been sewing with knits for a long time. I fell in love with knits when I was still in college and realized how forgiving sewing with knits was, and there were so many ways to hem knits.

I didn’t know anything about different kinds of knits and how to work with them. I just used them all and treated them all the same. Some of my projects turned out great, and some did know.

I never had a problem hemming with a twin needle when I sewed swimsuit knits, but early on I realized it was really hard to get a nice flat, stretchy hem when I used a twin needle. Of the many ways to hem knit fabric I’ll show you three that I use.

This post was created in partnership with Thermoweb. All opinions are my own. There are affiliate links in this post. 

Over the past ten years I have tried almost everything to get a nice hem with a twin needle. I have read every article and tried every trick.

I tried changing bobbin tension, changing needle tension, sewing slowly, stretch thread in the bobbin, different fusible hem tapes, higher sewing machine foot pressure, inserting a strip of jersey fabric in the hem, and using tissue paper in the hem. I could never make it work.

I even took a break from sewing knits this year because I was so frustrated with tunneling and wonky hems! I found a new product HeatnBond Soft Stretch Lite* and my knit hems will never be the same. I was surprised at how well this product worked, and now I want to sew all the knits! 

There are lots of different fusible hem tapes on the market, and I used some of them. I just wanted to compare HeatnBond’s other products because I feel like the Soft Stretch* is so unique.

They have three kinds that need to be sewn and two all for wovens. One does not need to be sewn, but it is for wovens. There’s only one, the Soft Stretch*, that is lightweight and for knits.

I decided to use 5 different knits and test out three different ways of hemming to see which one I liked the best. There’s a roundup of pros of cons of each method at the end of the post.

Love to sew? Try one of these sewing projects:

• Types of knit fabric
• sewing knit fabric
• sew knit fabric with a sewing machine
• sewing jersey fabric
• Jersey knit sewing projects
• Eloflex thread review
• Seraflex thread review

How to Hem Knit Fabric

Fabrics Used in This Post: 

• lightweight green cotton spandex (similar*)
• midweight mint cotton spandex (similar*)
• printed midweight cotton spandex – ice cream cone fabric, ice cream cone fabric, neapolitan ice cream cone
• lightweight gray bamboo rayon spandex*
• midweight periwinkle bamboo rayon spandex*

The three methods I used for hemming the knits were 1) hemming alone, 2) hemming and inserting a strip of fabric in the hem, and 3) hemming with the Soft Stretch*.

I’m not going to show you ways to hem knits with a twin needle without anything extra. You can find that in other tutorials. I will show you how to hem with fabric and how to hem with Soft Stretch*.

Hemming with Fabric

Out of everything I’ve tried, this has been the most successful. (My hem thread still pull out though, so I wasn’t completely happy with it.)

1. Cut 1/2″ strips of the same fabric you’re working with with the stretch going the long way.
2. Lay the strip of fabric along the edge that needs to be hemmed.
3. Fold the fabric up 1/2″ enclosing the strip of fabric inside the hem.
4. Pin the hem and press. 
5. Sew with a twin needle and tie of the ends.

Hemming with Soft Stretch

1. Cut the soft stretch the length you need. (If you have a curved hem then cut the strips in 3 inch to 4 inch to go with the curve.)
2. Place the soft stretch on the edge that needs to be hemmed and press for 5 seconds.
3. Let cool and then peel the backing off. The resulting interfacing is so thin you can hardly see it.
4. Fold up the fabric and press for 20 seconds.
5. Sew with a twin needle and tie off the threads.

I took pictures of each hem right after it was hemmed and then after I pressed it. The top row is a hem, the second row is a hem with a fabric facing, and the bottom row is a hem with Soft Stretch. Sewing the hem stretched out the fabric on all three, but it’s the most noticeable on the top two.

Even after steaming and pressing, the fabric didn’t really return to normal except with the Soft Stretch. Also, the top two are wonky seams after being pressed because they were stretched out. This is one of the lighter fabrics I used which is trickier, but it shows what a difference it makes.

Pros and Cons of Different Knit Hems

These are my lists of the advantages and disadvantages for each type of hem. I’m trying to be completely honest about each one. I’ve used them all and lots of other kinds, but Soft Stretch* really is my favorite. I finally feel like I can make flat and crisp hems.

KNIT HEM
Pros Nothing else is needed Free Fast Can control hem size	Cons Tunneling Wonky Seams Needs pinning
KNIT HEM – FABRIC FACING
Pros Inexpensive Fast Sometimes prevents tunneling Can control hem size	Cons Extra thing to cut out Sometimes wonky seams Needs pinning Hems stretch out Can make seam bulky
KNIT HEM – SOFT STRETCH
Pros Prevents tunneling Prevents stretching out No pins Impossible to tell if it’s there	Cons Costs money Needs pressing before sewing Takes more time Hem size determined by tape size

Comparing the Hems

I took a picture of every hem stretched from the front and stretched from the back. You can see that the top two hems of each fabric tunnel when stretched and the bottom hem does not tunnel or only tunnels slightly.

Lightweight bamboo rayon spandex jersey

This fabric is very lightweight with a lot of stretch and a pretty good recovery. It drapes well but is pretty thin.

Lightweight bamboo rayon spandex jersey

This fabric is lightweight with a lot of stretch and pretty good recovery. It drapes well.

Lightweight cotton spandex jersey

This fabric is lightweight with a lot of stretch and a lot of recovery. It does not drape well.

Midweight cotton spandex jersey

This fabric is midweight with a lot of stretch and a lot of recovery. It does not drape well and looks best as a fitted garment.

Printed midweight cotton spandex

This fabric is midweight with a lot of stretch and a lot of recovery. It does not drape well and looks best as a fitted garment. The print makes it a little less stretchy.

Did you learn anything new today? Which hem will you use from now on?

If you make something using this tutorial, I’d love to see! Please share it on social media with the hashtag #heatherhandmade and tag me!