Hello,
When hemstitching plain weave cotton fabric, do you also need to sew a line of stitching on the fabric near the hemstitching?
Thank you!
Liza
Sorry Liza, I apologize for your question "slipping through the cracks". Hemstitching is used when you are planning to have a fringe on your cloth - scarf, shawl, seldom washed runner, etc. If your cotton fabric is going to be an item in heavy use - towel, runner, etc. - then you weave enough on each end so you have 1 ½" to 2" to fold over and securely hem.
Yes, I've done hemstitching on the edge of woven items, but I wondered if it's "enough" to hold it on it's own for most things, or if you need to put a line of machine stitching in there as well.
Thanks for your response!
Liza
I've never used a sewing machine on any of the fringed scarves I've woven. If you put a nice solid twist in your fringe and knot the end of it will hold for years. I've never had one that hasn't held well during use and some of my scarves are probably about 25 years old ;-) However, none of my fine items ever go near a washing machine - they are always washed by hand and hung to dry. That is not the case with my hard-working tea towels that are hemmed - some of my oldest ones actually have worn out because of the continuous wash cycle and hard use that items like that have to endure.