Last week I went down a rabbit hole of trying to learn how to use the narrow rolled hem foot for my new Bernina sewing machine. The main thing I have learned is that there is a major learning curve. But the other thing I noticed was that there are a lot of half tutorials for how to use that foot and none that actually show finishing a project with it. (Or at least none that I found). Specifically I couldn’t find information about how to do corners, like when you are hemming a rectangular scarf.

So this tutorial is not how to do that, because honestly I think it’s basically impossible. Instead I decided to go back to my own tried-and-true method for making a narrow hem: the 3-thread rolled hem on my serger. You can see what it looks like in the photo above. It’s an especially neat way to finish the edges of rectangular scarves especially if you are using a fabric like chiffon or crepe de chine. I needed to hem a batch of scarves and the reason I was looking for an alternate finish is that it does need some specialty thread and with the demise of Joann, I wasn’t sure if I could get any locally and I wasn’t sure I had the colors I needed.

Setting up my Serger

I have a Brother 1034D serger. I am going to talk about the settings I use with that specific machine and one very specific fabric: Spoonflower’s Chiffon. If you have a different serger, I hope this tutorial will give you a starting point but you’ll have to look at the instructions for your machine to see how to set it up and create a rolled hem.

The very bare bones instructions that came with my serger say to remove the left needle, remove the stitch finger, and adjust the thread tension and you are ready to go. It took me many many many many yards of experiments to figure out what those settings are. Here’s what works for me:

• Yellow (left needle) not used.
• Pink (right needle) 3.5
• Green (upper looper) 2
• Blue (lower looper) 5

• Differential .7
• Length R
• Width 5.5

Remember, these settings are a starting point. Use the selvedges of your fabric to stitch a few inches and see if you like the way the hem looks.

Threads & Needle

I use two different threads to make a rolled hem: a cone of regular serger thread and 2 cones of wooly nylon thread all in matching colors. I have gotten my threads from Threadart.com and they’ve always worked well for me. I thread the serger with the regular thread in the needle and the wooly nylon in the upper and lower loopers. If you’ve never worked with wooly nylon, it’s a little unruly. It fluffs out when it’s not under tension and it can be difficult to thread through the eyes in the serger. I used a little Sew Fine Thread Gloss on the ends of the threads to stick it together this time and it was very helpful.

Because I was working with chiffon, I swapped the serger needle for a 60/8 microtex needle.

Fabric

My project was hemming scarves made from Spoonflower’s chiffon fabric. I print 2 yards of fabric and cut it lengthwise down the center to make two scarves approximately 26×72 inches. The chiffon is translucent so you can see the print on both sides, although the wrong side is muted. A rolled hem makes a really nice finish that looks great from both sides. You can use this technique on other fabrics, of course but you will need to adjust the serger settings and needle choice for each different kind of fabric.

Your Most Essential Tool: Spray Starch

After a lot of trial and error, the tool that has been the absolute most help to making a beautiful hem is spray starch. I bought mine at the grocery store: Niagara Heavy Finish Ironing Spray Starch

I hang the fabric from the shower curtain rod in the bathroom using binder clips and some S hooks and spray the edges all the way around the rectangle. You want it to be about the consistency of tissue paper when it dries. I let mine dry overnight usually. I like to do the spray in the shower because the starch can make surfaces like the floor kind of slippery and this way the extra starch just washes away when I turn on the shower.

Ready, Set, Stitch.

I stitch scarves one side at a time. My serger has a cutter, so I try to trim off at least 1/8 inch of the edge of the fabric to get really clean edges.

My best tip for stitching is to be smooth and steady. I try to have the scarf straightened out so I can feed it through the machine without stopping to untangle or unfold it. I try to keep a consistent speed without a bunch of stops and starts. I try to make sure that I am not pulling or distorting the fabric as it goes through the machine. Chiffon is very prone to wiggle and skew so I try to minimize that as much as possible. I’ll be honest, it took me lots of practice. I got a cheap thrift store sheer curtain to practice on when I was trying to figure it out so I didn’t have to worry about using “good fabric”.

If you wobble or somehow make a mistake on a side, start again about 1/8 inch away from the first line of stitching and try to do the whole side again.

Corners

The best way I’ve found to make a clean corner is to not try to turn a corner. I stitch each side as a separate pass. Usually I start with a long side (with the fabric grain) and stitch the whole side. To stitch the next side, I start with the cutter blade up, turn the fabric so I am feeding a short side into the serger, and hold the previous thread tail straight out to the right side. This helps the edge of the fabric feed into my machine smoothly without anything getting caught on the foot or cutter and crumpled up. (Your mileage may vary.) Once I’ve gone around all four sides this way, the corners each have a tail of thread left on them.

I trim this thread tail about 1/8 inch long and use a lighter to gently melt the remaining thread tail. Be careful at this step that you don’t scorch the fabric. I’ve also used a dot of fabric glue or fray check to finish the corners but melting seems to be the neatest.

Wash it.

The last step is to wash out the starch. I use the “speed” cycle on my washer and tumble dry on gentle with a dryer sheet because the chiffon will build up static like crazy. The photo above is taken before the starch was washed out so the fabric looks a little crispy and stiff. It will soften up a lot with washing.

One Last Tip.

I hope this tutorial can help as a jumping off point for you to try your first rolled hem. One last tip I have is to take a photo of your serger settings before you change everything (so you can easily set it back to what you were using before) AND take a photo of the settings when you have it set up for the rolled hem for the next time you want to do one. I have those photos saved in a folder on my phone and it’s so easy to swap back and forth without a lot of hassle.