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| Hem | |
|---|---|
| Name | Hem |
| Caption | A folded hem on a garment edge |
| Type | Textile finishing |
| Material | Various fabrics |
| Inventor | Unknown |
| Origin | Ancient sewing traditions |
Hem
A hem is the finished edge of a garment, textile, or other fabric object created by folding, binding, or otherwise securing the raw edge to prevent unraveling and to define shape. Hems appear across the history of clothing and textile arts, used in garments, drapery, upholstery, and ceremonial textiles. Makers from tailors to seamstresses, costume designers to upholstery artisans employ hems to balance durability, aesthetics, and function.
The English term for this edging derives from Middle English and Old English roots documented alongside textile terms in medieval inventories and guild records. Historical manuscripts relating to the Hanseatic League, Guilds of London, and Merchant Adventurers include references to edged garments and seam allowances comparable to the modern hem. Etymological sources often cite connections to Old Norse and Germanic lexemes found in the vocabulary of Viking Age textile workers and in treatises compiled during the Renaissance textile trade expansion.
Common varieties include the turned hem, blind hem, rolled hem, double-fold hem, faced hem, and bound hem. The turned hem is typical in ready-to-wear produced by ateliers such as Haute Couture houses and industrial manufacturers tied to historical firms like Liberty of London. Blind hems are widely used in tailoring traditions practiced in workshops associated with Savile Row and bespoke tailors for garments by designers like Christian Dior and Giorgio Armani. Rolled hems appear in lingerie and haute couture visible in the archives of Chanel and Givenchy. Specialty hems such as lettuce hems or scalloped hems feature in collections by Yves Saint Laurent and experimental pieces from Bauhaus-influenced studios.
Hand-sewn hems employ needles and thread in techniques found in manuals by authors associated with Victoria and Albert Museum collections and instructional volumes used by Ecole de la Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne. Tools include hand needles, thimbles of the style catalogued in Victoria and Albert Museum inventories, needle-threaders, and pressing implements such as clapper boards from historic tailoring workshops like those on Savile Row. Machine techniques use lockstitch, overlock (serger), coverstitch, and blindstitch machines produced by firms such as Singer Corporation and Pfaff. Industrial processes in textile mills referenced in publications about the Industrial Revolution transformed hemming through mechanization, paralleling innovations patented by inventors associated with United States Patent Office records.
Hems vary with substrate: lightweight silks, chiffons, and laces common to Haute Couture necessitate narrow hems and hand-rolled edges; medium-weight cotton and wool used by tailors in Savile Row or ateliers of Dior accept wider turned hems; heavy fabrics for upholstery in collections held by Victoria and Albert Museum require faced or bound hems. Stitching methods include slipstitch, catch-stitch, fell stitch, and machine blind-stitch; patterns and technique manuals from the Arts and Crafts Movement and pedagogical texts from Royal School of Needlework describe these in detail. Thread choices—cotton, silk, polyester—reflect historical shifts noted in trade records involving East India Company imports and later synthetic fiber producers like DuPont.
Finishes range from plain folded hems to decorative techniques like picot edging, scalloped embroideries, lace inserts, and piping. Embellished hems appear in costumes from theaters such as La Scala and Metropolitan Opera, and in ceremonial garments preserved in institutions like The British Museum and Louvre Museum collections. Designers from the Art Nouveau and Art Deco periods incorporated ornamented hems into garments displayed at salons run by figures like Paul Poiret. Contemporary decorative hems use techniques cross-referenced in fashion retrospectives featuring Alexander McQueen and Issey Miyake.
Durability of hemming is a primary concern in production houses like Levi Strauss & Co. for denim and in bespoke tailoring on Savile Row for suits; hem depth, seam allowance, and stitch type influence wear. Fit adjustments during alterations—rising or lowering garment length—are routine in bridal ateliers such as those associated with Vera Wang and costume shops for companies like Royal Shakespeare Company. Industrial laundering standards referenced by textile testing labs influence selection of hem treatments in mass-market brands like H&M and Zara. Reinforcements (bartacks, staystitching) used in military uniforms registered with institutions like Imperial War Museums illustrate longevity strategies.
Hems have signaled status, regional identity, and ritual function across cultures: ecclesiastical vestments conserved by Vatican Museums show ornate hems as liturgical markers; traditional garments such as Kimono, Sari, Hanbok, Dirndl, and Kente cloth include culturally specific hemming methods. Sumptuary laws in periods covered by archives of the Tudor period regulated decorative hems as status symbols. In folk traditions documented by ethnographers linked to institutions like Smithsonian Institution and Folklore Society, hems carry embroidered motifs denoting kinship and locality. Hem techniques also appear in technological histories of textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution and in modern fashion movements seen at events like Paris Fashion Week and London Fashion Week.
Category:Textile techniques