Mini Tutorial: How To Finish Faced Corners At The Hemline By Hand

You'll come across having to clean finish faced corners at the hemlines when working with both lined and unlined open garment's (usually open-front) that features a facing along the two opening edges. The idea is to clean finish each bottom corner so that its' edges blend smoothly into the rest of the garment's hemline and the edge of the faced opening (vertically). 

Perhaps the most intuitive way to clean finish these faced corners is by using a simple folding and hand-applied blind stitching technique. A slipstitch is used to seal the facing edges for an invisible-stitch finish along the bottom edge of the facing- this is especially true when using matching color thread. 

In the example below, un unlined garment is used:

1. Start by extending the garment opening facing way from the garment layer and fold the edge of the hem allowance in toward the wrong side of the garment, at about 1/4". Iron as you fold to crease the fold line. Do this along the entire edge, including taht of the facing. 

2. Next, fold the hem allowance up at the remaining distance (measure without the 1/4" folded in the step above) and iron as you fold to crease the final hemline. When the entire hem allowance portion is folded inward, the the resulting fold line corresponds to to the garment's designated hemline. 

If your hemline is not directly marked on the wrong side of the fabric, use a gage pointer or a ruler to measure the needed folding distance. 

3. Once the entire hem allowance is folded and iron as indicated above, bring the front opening facing back in its natural position (on the wrong side of the garment). In this position, all hem allowance layers will be encased on the facing's wrong side, exposing a clean sharp corner. 

3. Insert pins perpendicular to the edge through the entire length of the hemline and the facing layers as shown above. 

4. Before sealing hem-facing corner, clean finish the garment's hem. In this case the double folded hem allowance is topstitched to encase all raw edges and thus permanently finish the garment's hem. Begin and stop this stitch at the open facing edge and not the open edge of the garment. 

5. To seal the facing unit at the hem, start by slipstitching the vertical open edge of the facing to the hem allowance layer underneath. A slipstitch is applied through the folded edge of the facing and catching 1-2 threads from the fabric layer underneath as shown. 

6. To complete the bottom edge of the facing (hemline), apply another slipstitch attaching the folded edge of the facing to that of the hemline. Continue slipstitching the entire facing edge alternating the stitches from fold to fold. 

Note: When slipstitching two fabric edges together, the resulting stitch is called an even slipstitch. 

The beauty of a hand finished faced hem corner is that the simple technique of folding  the hemline and facing layers allows the hemline to be extended if the garment requires lengthening at any point in the future.