Is it even possible to get a non "flipping" hem?

jomac30 · 11-08-2009, 01:08 AM

I'm beginning to think it is impossible to have a knitted hem stay flat. I've tried everything and ripped out and reknit or re-sewed the hem. Nothing works. Not even stean.
I've been re-doing the hems for days and still can't get a hem to stay flat. Using acrylic yarn.
If anyone has ever been able to accomplish this please tell me how to do it.
Thank you.

Mike · 11-08-2009, 02:06 AM

Is it actually a hem or is it just the end? What stitch is it?

You could try a fold over and actually have it be a hem. I have a collar like that and it's very well behaved.

Steam blocking may kill it enough that it wouldn't want to roll. But you wouldn't want to do that if it's ribbing because it will kill it enough that there's no stretch.

JudyD · 11-08-2009, 07:49 AM

These are photos of a sweater I'm knitting for my grand-dog (daughter's dog). The pattern is my own. The bottom of the sweater is done in garter stitch. When I cast on I make sure I have an extra-long tail of yarn because when I knit the first row I carry the yarn all the way to the other end of the needle. It makes a ridge on the wrong side and stabilizes the garter stitch. Maybe if you carried the yarn for a few rows it might give you the "non-flipping" hem.

I tried several photos and couldn't get really good shots.

JudyD

jomac30 · 11-08-2009, 11:37 AM

Originally Posted by Mike

Is it actually a hem or is it just the end? What stitch is it?

You could try a fold over and actually have it be a hem. I have a collar like that and it's very well behaved.

Steam blocking may kill it enough that it wouldn't want to roll. But you wouldn't want to do that if it's ribbing because it will kill it enough that there's no stretch.

Its a picot hem. I'm on circular needles so every round is knit. After I did the picot row I did a few more knit rounds and then a bind off. Then turned up hem and sewed bind off edge to inside of dress. Now I'm wondering if I should rip out the bind off and re-do it with a thinner yarn to reduce bulk. Would that prevent the flip? I've tried everything else I can think of.

Jan in CA · 11-08-2009, 02:24 PM

If you knit garter or seed stitch for 4 or 5 rows then did the picot bind off it should stay flat. You need a pretty good edge to keep it stabilized.

You can also get picots by knitting a [Yo, k2tog] across then knit 5 more rows or so and turn it under at the eyelets and hem it. The eyelets create the picot.

MerigoldinWA · 11-08-2009, 03:12 PM

I just remember reading about flaring hems in Elizabeth Zimmermann's book Knitting Without Tears, so I looked it up again to see what she says. She always works with wool so the results may vary a bit but what she has to say could help here. By the way, she mentions doing the turning row to make a picot so it will work with that sort of hem as well. She says, "Knitted hems have found much favor during the last ten years (copyright is 1971) or so, but I have yet to see one that is logically designed. Most of them show a lamentable inclination to flare out, right? Very occasionally, directions will admonish you to work hems tightly on smaller needles." She goes on to suggest that you put 10% (or even a little less, "if you wish") fewer stitches on the part of the hem that turns up, and she mentions that a finer weight of yarn can also be used for this hem part to make it even flatter. She doesn't really say if she agrees with the "tightly on smaller needles" part. She does recommend that you make the very edge that will be sewn down to the sweater quite loose and sew it by "taking just a skimming of the sweater fabric, and keeping the stitches good and loose, so that the hem will stretch as much as the sweater if necessary." One more thing, she mentions the hem being anywhere from 1 1/2 inches on. So possibly a little longer hem that normal may help. I think she was talking about an adult sweater when she gave that measurement.

I hope that will help you.

suzeeq · 11-08-2009, 06:33 PM

I remember in one of her books I read, there were pictures of hems on sweaters that were done with a much thinner yarn than the sweater itself, sometimes in different colors. She always knit from the bottom up, so started with the thin yarn, then did her turning row with the sweater yarn.

Becky Morgan · 11-08-2009, 11:42 PM

If you crochet, that'll work. If you don't want to add a row of crochet more or less in the same pattern, you could try bias tape ironed onto the inside.

OffJumpsJack · 11-11-2009, 11:41 AM

Originally Posted by Becky Morgan

If you crochet, that'll work. If you don't want to add a row of crochet more or less in the same pattern, you could try bias tape ironed onto the inside.

Last time I ironed acrylic yarn I melted spots of it.

Will the bias tape stick with a cooler iron for the acrylic?

I'm a

and really don't know the answer.

If it were my sweater I would just do a rib stitch and skip the darn frustrating hem.

I'll

for you, jomac30.

MerigoldinWA · 11-11-2009, 03:44 PM

Quote:

If you crochet, that'll work. If you don't want to add a row of crochet more or less in the same pattern, you could try bias tape ironed onto the inside.

quoting Becky Morgan

Quote:

Last time I ironed acrylic yarn I melted spots of it. Will the bias tape stick with a cooler iron for the acrylic?

Quoting Jack

I'm not sure about this idea of ironing bias tape onto the inside. Any bias tape I've ever seen is not something you "iron on". I'm not sure if she means it sticks when you iron it on. There may be such products but I don't think you'd want one in the hem of a sweater. It seems like that would make it stiff, and yes, you could melt the acrylic.

Sue, EZ did knit from the bottom up but she often didn't start with her hem or edge finish but added that last. Quote "My favorite way is the reverse of this; start the sweater with no then at the lower edge--just regular casting-on--and during the days and weeks of knitting, meditate on this hem." Knitting Without Tears page 34 italics hers. So the finish on a top down sweater would be in keeping with her way of doing things.

Quote:

After I did the picot row I did a few more knit rounds and then a bind off. Then turned up hem and sewed bind off edge to inside of dress.

I didn't mention the first time, but EZ also suggests not binding off: "When the hem is the length you want it....do not cast off. I rarely cast off if I can avoid it.... Anyway, hems are much better off without a tight, neat or, alternatively, a loose, untidy casting-off." TWTp36

She goes on to suggest that you cut the yarn with a nice long tail and thread it onto your tapestry needle and then take the knitting needle out of your stitches and sew the loops down stitch for stitch in the skimming manner I mentioned before.

jomac30, has anything worked for you yet on this hem?