How To Sew A Hong Kong Seam
In this video I show you how to sew a Hong Kong seam finish - perfect for structured garments like unlined jackets
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SewHayleyJane
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0:00 - 0:30
There might be times where you require a slightly fancier or couture method of finishing your raw seams, particularly on things like unlined jackets, for example, where the seams are exposed. You might see them, you know, if you take your jacket off, somebody might see them, so you might want a slightly nicer finish. And one way of doing that, or two ways actually, there are two ways. One is the simple bias-bound seam, and the other is a slightly trickier Hong Kong seam.
0:31 - 1:03
Both of them use bias binding to wrap around the raw edge of the seam, finishing the raw edges beautifully and ensuring the longevity of your garment. So let's take a look at a Hong Kong seam. Now, this is a slightly trickier method because it involves stitching in the ditch, but you can see on the visible side of the seam, you've got a beautiful, clean finish. On the underneath of the seam, it is raw and then trimmed down.
1:03 - 1:48
So let's take a look at how to do that. So you can use shop-bought or your own homemade bias binding. I've got some shop-bought bias binding here from the Specky Seamstress, and I'm gonna start by opening it up and matching up the raw edge of the bias binding with one raw edge of the seam allowance there. Now we're gonna sew those together, so you wanna flip that out of the way so that you've just got the raw edge of the seam there, and we're gonna sew with quarter of an inch seam allowance all the way along, making sure as you go that you're opening up the bias binding and lining it up with the raw edge of the fabric.
2:01 - 2:14
Okay, so at the moment it is looking like this. So next, what we wanna do is press the rest of the bias binding over like that. So we're pressing along this seam that we have just sewn.
2:20 - 2:54
Snip off any excess bias binding that you don't need. So because this was shop-bought bias binding that was pre-pressed, in pressing this seam here, it has flattened down the press on the other side, and that is okay, because what we're gonna do now is we're gonna flip it over and we're gonna press... Oh, just make sure, can you see that this hasn't quite pressed properly there? So I'm just going to make sure that that is nice and flat.
2:55 - 3:28
And then I'm gonna take this raw edge of the bias binding and we're gonna fold it, we're gonna wrap it around this raw seam here, making sure that it is covering this stitch line. I'll give that a press. Now we're gonna take that over to our sewing machine, and we are going to stitch in the ditch from the right side.
3:29 - 4:02
So the ditch is this line here where the two fabrics meet, and if you were to zoom in really closely, it would look like this. It would be, there would be a ditch. So we're gonna sew so that the needle goes up and down right in that ditch, creating an invisible stitch. We need to make sure that it catches the bias binding on the back. You might want to make sure that you just hold onto the thread tails at the back of your sewing machine so that they don't get sucked underneath.
4:08 - 4:37
So you can see that that stitch in the ditch is practically invisible, but if we look at it from the wrong side, you can see the seam line. Now, if you've got a large bit of raw bias binding there, you can trim that away so that it doesn't get too bulky, and then open it up, and there you have a beautiful Hong Kong seam finish!
There might be times where you require a slightly fancier or couture method of finishing your raw seams, particularly on things like unlined jackets, for example, where the seams are exposed. You might see them, you know, if you take your jacket off, somebody might see them, so you might want a slightly nicer finish. And one way of doing that, or two ways actually, there are two ways. One is the simple bias-bound seam, and the other is a slightly trickier Hong Kong seam.
0:31 - 1:03
Both of them use bias binding to wrap around the raw edge of the seam, finishing the raw edges beautifully and ensuring the longevity of your garment. So let's take a look at a Hong Kong seam. Now, this is a slightly trickier method because it involves stitching in the ditch, but you can see on the visible side of the seam, you've got a beautiful, clean finish. On the underneath of the seam, it is raw and then trimmed down.
1:03 - 1:48
So let's take a look at how to do that. So you can use shop-bought or your own homemade bias binding. I've got some shop-bought bias binding here from the Specky Seamstress, and I'm gonna start by opening it up and matching up the raw edge of the bias binding with one raw edge of the seam allowance there. Now we're gonna sew those together, so you wanna flip that out of the way so that you've just got the raw edge of the seam there, and we're gonna sew with quarter of an inch seam allowance all the way along, making sure as you go that you're opening up the bias binding and lining it up with the raw edge of the fabric.
2:01 - 2:14
Okay, so at the moment it is looking like this. So next, what we wanna do is press the rest of the bias binding over like that. So we're pressing along this seam that we have just sewn.
2:20 - 2:54
Snip off any excess bias binding that you don't need. So because this was shop-bought bias binding that was pre-pressed, in pressing this seam here, it has flattened down the press on the other side, and that is okay, because what we're gonna do now is we're gonna flip it over and we're gonna press... Oh, just make sure, can you see that this hasn't quite pressed properly there? So I'm just going to make sure that that is nice and flat.
2:55 - 3:28
And then I'm gonna take this raw edge of the bias binding and we're gonna fold it, we're gonna wrap it around this raw seam here, making sure that it is covering this stitch line. I'll give that a press. Now we're gonna take that over to our sewing machine, and we are going to stitch in the ditch from the right side.
3:29 - 4:02
So the ditch is this line here where the two fabrics meet, and if you were to zoom in really closely, it would look like this. It would be, there would be a ditch. So we're gonna sew so that the needle goes up and down right in that ditch, creating an invisible stitch. We need to make sure that it catches the bias binding on the back. You might want to make sure that you just hold onto the thread tails at the back of your sewing machine so that they don't get sucked underneath.
4:08 - 4:37
So you can see that that stitch in the ditch is practically invisible, but if we look at it from the wrong side, you can see the seam line. Now, if you've got a large bit of raw bias binding there, you can trim that away so that it doesn't get too bulky, and then open it up, and there you have a beautiful Hong Kong seam finish!