DIY Grosgrain and Rolled Hem Guides

**PrisonerOfGravity** · 07-05-2013, 18:51

I made a couple of simple DIY sewing guides and though someone else might find them useful.

Grosgrain guide:

1) Pull a berry or spinach box out of your recycling box. Cut the flat panel out.

2) Fold it like in the diagram. Avoid sharp 180deg folds or the grosgrain will get pinched. I used the edge of a rule to get nice corners. No need to crush the folds, it's ok if it springs open a bit. The GG should slide nicely in it, neither sticking nor flopping around.

3) At the end where the GG will be drawn in, round the two sharp corners to prevent snags.

4) Stick the lower surface to your sewing machine using quality double sided tape. The tape shown in the first image works well. I just noticed that the French side of the package is showing, so for those not fluent, it is indoor carpet tape for vinyl, ceramic and wood. Place the guide as far toward the needle as it can be without covering the feed dogs. The presser foot will overhang the guide, so the fabric channel will open and close when the foot goes up and down.

5) The intake end will naturally spring open a bit. If necessary, spread it open a bit more.

6) Feed GG in the guide, and place fabric in the centre slot. Once you get started, you can forget about the GG and only need to focus on making sure the fabric stays fully in the slot.

Good luck!

**darkbyrd** · 07-05-2013, 19:00

Slick! I will be giving this a go. Might help keep my stitching straight as well, thanks for the tip!

**PrisonerOfGravity** · 07-05-2013, 19:01

Rolled Hem Guide:

1) Use directions 1-5 as above, but use this set of photos.

2) When sewing, fold over the edge in the direction that it is to be rolled. Twist that folded part slightly counterclockwise, so the raw edge is pointing approximately downward as shown in the third picture. This will Make sure that the fabric is 'in' the spiral properly.

There is some technique to using this one, but it is quick to pick up and produces a very consistent seam and I was able to sew at full speed and get a near perfect finish.

**Burning_Daylight** · 07-05-2013, 20:13

Genius! I was thinking that my rolled hem foot needed more of a run up to keep the fabric heading in the right direction. Totally doing this when we finish the berries in the fridge.

**Pag** · 07-05-2013, 23:09

That's a super duper ooper shmuper long core hemmer/binder you got there. Nice ingenuity!

**Bubba** · 07-05-2013, 23:32

That's awesome! Thanks for posting this.

**Hammonkey** · 07-06-2013, 01:57

Great Ideas! Where was this post when I was struggling to find a presser foot that worked I did all my rolled hems by hand and they're super wide and sloppy as result.

**TZBrown** · 07-06-2013, 07:30

Very Cool idea

You can custom make the guide for each width of grosgrain

Thanks for sharing the idea

WV · 07-06-2013, 07:51

PofG,
Fine work. Stay down here where you're needed. I'd be interested to hear how you handle zipper sliders on roll zipper stock. I've come up with a couple of jigs and kluges, but nothing truly elegant.