A lettuce hem is a type of seam that is sewn mostly on the edge hem of knit garments to emulate the wavy shape of a lettuce leaf.
This type of hem is a super cute design detail to put on the hem of crop tops, skirts, and even sleeves!
In this tutorial, I am going to show you how to sew a lettuce hem with your sewing machine and a serger machine. The two machines have different finishes, so you will be the judge of which one you think is prettier.
And don’t worry because learning this technique will be super easy and quick!
So, grab your knit stretchy fabrics, and let’s do this!
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I feel like I haven’t done this type of hem in ages.
There was once upon a time when I would try making this hem on everything! It was super popular in the 2000s. Do you remember the lettuce hem socks?
What a year!
Seeing as this cute little hem is back in style these past seasons, I thought it was only fair to make a detailed tutorial for all my sewing friends.
Even though I find making this seam on a sewing machine unnecessarily harder, I know that not all of you have gotten your first serger machine yet.
That’s why I will show you how to do it with both a sewing machine and a serger in this post.
Now, remember to save this post for later and leave me all the questions you have about this technique in the comments, and I will do my best to clarify any doubts or questions.
What do I need to make a lettuce hem?
To make a lettuce hem, you will need either a sewing machine or a serger, regular thread, and knit fabric.
You can only make this seam on knit fabrics because the seam is formed when this fabric is stretched. The stretchier the fabric, the better the result of your lettuce hem will be.
Remember to use a needle for knit fabrics on any of these sewing machines to prevent skipped stitches or puckering.
I recommend that you choose medium to lightweight knit fabric types to achieve a better and wavier result.
Unfortunately, this technique doesn’t work as well with thicker fabrics because they don’t curl or stretch as much as thinner ones.
Read this, too: How To Sew Stretch Fabrics
How do you do a lettuce hem on a sewing machine?
1. Curl the edges of the fabric.
All right, my friend. To make a strong lettuce hem on knits with your sewing machine, we first need to curl up the edges of the hems.
Do you know how some knits very annoyingly curl towards the front or the back of the fabric after you cut your pattern pieces? Even if you press them, they struggle to stay flat.
Well, that is actually going to help us here. We need that annoying edge of the fabric to curl so you can make our seam over it.
We do this because if we sew over the curled edge, we will not leave the raw edge sticking out between the stitches of our seam. That will give us a much neater and cleaner result in the end.
To make the fabric curl, simply stretch the edges with your fingers and then release the fabric.
2. Change your machine settings.
Change your stitch into a narrow zig-zag stitch.
I like to use the following settings:
- Stitch length: 1.5
- Stitch width: 4.0 – 4.5
You can make a less wide stitch if you want. But in my personal opinion, a wider zig-zag stitch is easier to manage on a sewing machine.
3. Make a test run.
Always make a test on a scrap of fabric to see if you need to change some settings to get your desired look.
The first time I tried this stitch, after a while, it took me a couple of changes in the length to find that sweet spot of a super full seam that still made the wavy look.
4. Make the Lettuce Hem
Place your fabric edge under the presser foot and make a few stitches.
Then, grab the fabric edge from the back with one hand and from the front with the other and start sewing. The more you stretch the fabric the wavier your seam will look. Try to be consistent with the amount of stretch you do each time so you can have an even look.
Guide the fabric so the zig-zag stitch covers the little folded curl on the edge.
Continue sewing like this until you reach the end.
5. Finishing the hem
If you are making an open seam like mine here, just leave the two tails long at the beginning and end of the seam. Then, make a small knot and cut the excess thread.
On the other hand, if you are sewing a continuous seam, like the hem of a skirt, do the following.
When you are about to meet the beginning of the seam, lower the needle and stop sewing. Cut the excess thread tails of the start of the seam and then continue making the lettuce edge until you overlap the seam for about 1/2″ – 3/4″.
Then, stop sewing and make a knot by hand with the remaining thread tails.
How to do a lettuce hem on a serger?
1. Setting up your serger.
To make this type of seam on a serger, we need to set up our machines to the rolled hem serger seam settings.
Each serger manual will have instructions on how to do that (I have my Juki MO654DE rolled hem tutorial here). Here are the general steps:
- Remove the left needle
- Set the differential feed to 0.5- 0.7
- Reduce the stitch length depending on the finish you want
- Remove the pin to activate the roll hem function
The smaller the stitch length, the fuller your seam will look. I don’t usually like to reduce the stitch length too much because it takes so much longer to sew. As you stretch the fabric, you double the hem’s length.
2. Test on a scrap of fabric.
As in the last example, you will be wise to test your stitches in a scrap of fabric before sewing the final garment.
Then, you will see which settings you want or can modify.
3. Start sewing.
Start feeding the fabric while you use two fingers to press and stretch the fabric from the front only.
Here, you don’t need to pull the fabric from the back because the differential feed is taking care of stretching the fabric for us.
On the front, be careful not to apply too much pressure or pull the fabric too hard. Again, the machine does most of the work for us, so you only need to stretch the fabric very slightly.
4. Finish the seam.
To finish the seam, simply sew over the start of the seam about 1″ or 2″.
Instead of cutting the thread tails, you can get a cleaner result if you untangle the tails and make a narrow, small knot with it. After that, you can cut away the excess thread.
And that’s it!!
Can you see why I like the serger finish so much better? Isn’t that easier?
I am so excited to see what you achieve d with this tutorial. Please remember to tag me with @mygoldenthimble on all your social media posts to show me your great work! Let me be your cheerleader!!
If you have any questions, let me know in the comment box below, and don’t forget to save this post on Pinterest for later!
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