3D Printed Sewing Tool for Hems

Hi everybody!

When I have to do pants hem or curtain hem, I always find it difficult to make one straight. So I imagined a sewing tool that can help you. I hope you will find this instructable interesting and also to get feedbacks from yourself like: how to improve it, if you like it or not (and why :p )

The purpose of the sewing tool is to hold in place the fabric during the sewing. The tool is made of two parts that will grab the fabric so it won't move during the sewing. The small holes of the tool are made to lock the tool. The holes can also help you as reference to translate the tool. I hope the video will help you to have a better understanding.

Notice that the distance between two teeth is 5mm and there are 12 teeth per side.

• a sewing tool: here is the link to thingiverse for the 3D printing file https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3775938 You can also make it using a calendar or a thick cardboard
• a set of safety pins (a dozen)
• threads
• a needle
• scissors
• big ruler or piece of wood (flat)

1. mark the position of the hem using pins on each side of the curtain
2. add 2inches of fabric (for the hem), mark the position using pins
3. draw a cutting line
4. cut the extra fabric
5. fold the fabric to form the hem
6. hold the hem in place using pins

1. place the tool on the edge of the curtain so it grab the fabric
2. use the hole and pins to lock the tool
3. start sewing, be sure the needle get out in front of the tooth on the other side, if not, pull out the needle and try again
4. once arrived at the last tooth, unlock the sewing tool and translate it
5. then go to step 1, except that now you have to be cautious to align the tool with your previous stitches
6. repeat steps 2-3-4-5

Well, if everything went well you should have a nice hem. In the video I used a single-pass sewing (I don't know the name of this technique... look at the drawing I made for more info) which I think is good enough for a curtain.

For the pants, I used a double-pass sewing (again, I don't know the name of this technique...look at the drawing I made for more info) which is more robust since there is more thread.

The steps here are very similar to the one for the curtain.

A way to get the hem done is using an old pant at your size as reference (describe here) or putting the pants on yourself (not describe here)

1. put the pants (both of them) on the reverse side
2. put them above each other
3. draw the position of the hem
4. add 2inches of fabric (for the hem), mark the position using pins
5. draw a cutting line
6. cut the extra fabric
7. fold the fabric to form the hem
8. hold the hem in place using pins

During these steps the tricky parts are to fold the hem on the line and having the hem homogeneous (meaning not to wide on a side and narrow somewhere else).

1. place the tool so it grab the fabric
2. use the hole and pins to lock the tool. The position of the tool is very important, it's very useful to be able to lock the tools using the holes and pins.
3. start sewing, be sure the needle get out in front of the tooth on the other side, if not, pull out the needed and try again
4. once arrived at the last tooth, unlock the sewing tool and translate it
5. then go to step 1, except that now you have to be cautious to align the tool with your previous stitches
6. repeat steps 2-3-4-5

After a couple of stitches you should have a nice hem, you just need to repeat the steps on the other leg of the pants.

I hope you will find this tool useful. It really help me for and I think I will use it every time I'll have to make a hem.

As always, nothing is perfect, so I can make some modification if needed, just let's discuss together how to make it better.

Thank you for your feedback and comments.