How to do a ”proper hem” (Swedish style)

(or, at least: this is how I learned it, when I was at weaving school)

Let’s start with an ordinary 2/2 twill: comparing the two faces, we see that the twill line goes in opposite directions.

Thus, if we just take the whole piece as is, and turn under, the reverse side with the hem at the bottom would look like this:

If, instead, we weave the hem part “opposite”, what we see on loom would be this:

And, with the hem turned, the reverse side has the twill line going the same way all over:

Going on to a 2-block twill – if the right side looks like this

the reverse looks like this

and therefore the hem part should be woven like this

Note the clean cut(s) between the hem part and the body. It is of no structural importance, but it looks much neater.

And, in parts of the world where the weaving police is active, it is a must!

In those parts, it is also of vital importance that the pattern on the 2-block hem is "correct" - and also that there are exactly the same number of picks on the two hems (of one hemmed piece - or, if one is presenting a stack of towels, for instance, the same # on all the hems).

How do I know? Because I was rejected from a (Hemslöjden) exhibition because there were not the same # of picks. The hems
measured the same, and the pattern matched, but that was less important...
(And no, the primary cause was not my uneven beating - I had used a relatively fat and uneven tow yarn... had I woven one more repeat it would perhaps have evened out. Or not)

Do I always plan/sew hems this way? No, and I even sew my hems with a machine. (Unless they are meant for a Hemslöjden exhibitions, of course.)



The same reasoning can be applied to other bindings (structures) as well.

Here is part of a profile draft for "cat tracks", with the hem at the top: