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Sometimes your knit edges need a little more stability, and that’s the perfect time to knit a folded hem.
A hem can be added to a piece of knitting as you knit it or after the main knitting is done to add stability and help stop stockinette stitch from curling. Either way it’s pretty easy to do!
Knitting a Hem as You Knit
The easiest way to knit a folded hem is to add it as you knit a project. Here I’m showing how to do it from the bottom up, which seems to be the most common. You can also do it on a project worked from the top down, but the join might then be combined with a bind off.
If you’re knitting a folded hem on a project worked from the bottom up (such as a top, sweater, or hat) or a sock worked from the cuff down, this is how it’s done.
Start by casting on the normal number of stitches for the project. Work in stockinette stitch for about an inch, ending with a wrong side/purl row.
Purl a row on the right/front/knit side.
Continue in stockinette stitch (so starting with a purl row on the purl/wrong side) for the same number of rows you worked before the purl row on the front. When you fold the work at the purl row (also known as the turning row) the two pieces should be the same length and you should have just finished a purl row.
Hold the first part of the hem in place behind the knitting needle, folded up behind the stitches you just worked. As you knit the first stitch of the row, also take the needle into the first stitch in the cast on edge and knit them together.
Repeat this across the row. You’re basically making a tube where the stitches are connected across the back but open at the ends.
When you reach the end of the row, continue to work in stockinette as established, or whatever stitch pattern the project you’re working on calls for.
If you want to knit a folded hem at the end of a project worked from the top down, the process is the same, you’re just knitting the part that will be inside/to the back of the project last. Connecting the knit hem to the back of the work is similar to working a three-needle bind off without the third needle, as you’ll see below.
Knit a Folded Hem as an Afterthought
Recently I was working on a custom project for a client (which she didn’t want me to show in whole to anyone) that included a layer worked in stockinette stitch. Once it was knit and blocked and I saw that the edge was going to stay curled (because that’s what stockinette does) I decided to add a folded hem to the edge to help weigh it down.
It’s basically the same process but you’re just knitting the back side of the hem since the front is already there. (Aside: isn’t this yarn pretty? It’s DROPS Alpaca, my first time working with it but I really liked it!)
To begin knitting a folded hem on a finished piece of knitting, pick up and knit stitches along the edge. This is a cast on edge so I just picked up a stitch for each stitch of the cast on.
Here picking up the stitches makes it own ridge, so just work in stockinette stitch for about an inch or to the desired length of the hem.
Fold the hem to the back of the work using the picked up stitches as a guide, in line with where you want to join it to the knitting.
Knit the first stitch of the hem together with a stitch you pick up from the body of the project. Here I picked up the stitch from the body, then knit the stitch from the needle.
Then you can pull the picked up stitch over the knit stitch.
Pick up the next stitch from the body and knit the next stitch on the needle. That gives you three loops on the needle.
Pull the bottom two stitches/loops up and over the needle tip to bind off the stitch and join the hem to the back at the same time.
Repeat across the row. You may find another technique is easier for you but this is what worked best for me.
The knit folded hem is somewhat visible from the front but looks a lot better than a rolled edge if that’s not what you intended.
Once you know how to knit a folded hem you’ll find all sorts of uses for it, from adding a decorative edge like picots to giving your projects a clean look without ribbing.
