Trialing the Stoppax Hemstitching Fork

The Stoppax hemstitching fork is a vintage sewing tool that Mr H chanced to see at our secondhand shop. It was $10 which he thought was a rip off for a strip of metal, so he passed on it. When he got home he looked it up on Ebay, then went back and bought it!

It was in the original paper bag…

…with a little leaflet on how to use it.

However, the leaflet didn’t show what the finished product should look like. Luckily, the previous owner had left a tiny sample, squashed down at the bottom of the bag.

It makes a machine replication of faggoting stitch, which is often seen in heirloom embroidery and Victorian nighties/undies/blouses.

I had a poke around on the internet and found two very useful blog posts from Offspring here and an even more useful one here.

Then I gave it a go. To use, you encase the fork firmly in the fabric, right sides of the fabric together. Stitch through the gap in the fork, sliding the fork along to sew each section. Gotta be careful because it’s very easy to break a needle!

Then you take out the fork, cut the fold and press it open.

As promised by the leaflet, it “requires very little practice”.

I tried it with various stitch lengths, and concluded that regular length was fine.

As Offspring mentioned in her post, after cutting the fold the raw edges need to be neatened by turning them under and stitching. I couldn’t do this with mine, as the fabric was too thick to turn under twice – it’s thick cotton sateen sheeting. Instead I topstitched either side, just to see what it would look like.

Then I tried a wider hem, where the fork is positioned further away from the fold. Offspring recommended a line of basting stitches to butt the fork up against.

The Verdict: Great! I can see all sorts of uses for this: around dirndl skirt hems, on blouses, on cuffs and collars. Have you tried a hemming fork before?