To finish my newest maternity top, I want to try to make the most of my new serger.  I was pretty bummed to find out that the finish that I wanted to do for knits called the cover stitch needs special equipment.  This is the stitch you see on t-shirts (if you’re wearing one now, take a look) that has 2 parallel lines of top stitching on the right side and the zigzag/serged part on the back.  This is what I get for all the impulse buying and not reading through reviews.  Hehehe.  But I love my new serger and there are plenty of options to finish hems aside from that cover stitch.  The blind hem is one of them.  I pieced this simple tutorial together from some blind hem tutorials using a sewing machine and my book Serge with Confidence by Nancy Zieman.

First, turn your fabric over to the wrong side.  Using a seam gauge or a ruler, measure out (if you have the specifications from your pattern) or figure out what hem length and allowance you want.  I decided on a 1 inch hem for this with a 1/4 inch allowance that will eventually be trimmed by the serger.

Fold the fabric over onto itself according to the length you want for your hem (everything you see now is the wrong side).

I ended up with a Z-fold with a 1-inch (my hem length) overlap:

Press it down or pin in place and you’re ready to serge!  Of course, thread your serger – I used a three thread overlock stitch for this so I only needed to set the tensions for the first, third and fourth dials.  I used the following tension settings (It’s probably better if you practice on scrap cloth and tweak the settings until you get the stitch with the tension you want, but this worked for me on my lightweight jersey).

I used a blind hem foot that came with the 1034D overlocker.  Adjust the screw to get the guide to the right of the foot (that white part) to the correct part of your hem.  If the needle doesn’t catch the fold, move the guide to the left.  If the needle stitches too much on the fold, adjust to the right.  The needle should just bite into the edge of your fold.

Serge away and you’re almost done!  I had green thread in my serger since I’m sewing my top in green.  Open up the hem and this is what it looks like on the wrong side.

You can change the width between stitches for less noticeable stitches on the right side if you like.  Turn over your fabric and press (I didn’t press the hem yet here) and there you have your blind hem with only one run through on your serger!  :)  I hope this helped any of you trying to figure out the blind hem with your overlocker.  :)