If you’re looking for a polished finish for a knitting project, the Knit Hem With Crochet Bind Off is a lovely option. It’s all in the name… A folded knit hem, with a pretty little crochet chain detail! We use this bind off in our Essential Knit Tee knitting pattern, where it adds a neat and unfussy edge. Our Knit Hem With Crochet Bind Off Tutorial will show you exactly how to do it!

Note that if you want to make a matching hem at a cast-on edge, scroll to the bottom for tips!

Knit Hem With Crochet Bind Off | Purl Soho

Adding A Lifeline

Before you start making your knit hem, you will need to place a lifeline in your knitting so that you can easily pick up a round of stitches later on. In the case of the Essential Knit Tee pattern, you do that 12 rounds before you’re ready to begin your bind off. Check out our Adding A Lifeline tutorial for complete instructions, and let’s move on to the hem tutorial!

Knit Hem With Crochet Bind Off: Video Tutorial

Click To See Video Transcript

Hi, this is Whitney from Purl Soho, and I’m going to show you a special little technique for creating a polished folded hem with a lovely crochet chain detail. We used this bind off for our Essential Knit Tee pattern, and you can see it here along the cuffs of the sleeves, this little crocheted line right here that seals off this hem, and also along the neckline here for the collar. So let’s get started!

Before you get to the step of making your knit hem, you will have placed a lifeline in your knitting. This is a technique for indicating the stitches in one round so that you can easily pick them up later on. So you work this lifeline in as you knit this round, and in the case of the Essential Knit Tee pattern, you do that 12 rounds before you’re ready to begin your hem. So if you need some help with this step, be sure to check out our Adding A Lifeline tutorial, and then we can move on to making the hem!

The first thing to do as you knit this hem is to locate the first stitch that’s on your lifeline. To do that, you just follow the column of stitches from the first stitch on your left needle. You follow this column of stitches down until you reach the lifeline and this here is your first stitch on the lifeline. So what you’re going to do is take your crochet hook and insert it into the center of that stitch, just like that, from the front of the work to the back of the work. Then bring the crochet hook up the back of the work, like this, and insert it into the first stitch on your left needle, purlwise, like you’re purling a stitch.

Then take your working yarn and wrap it around your crochet hook, like you were knitting a stitch, and then bring that stitch out the back like that and allow the stitch on your left needle to come off the left needle. Now you have a hook here, oh sorry, a stitch here on your crochet hook. And what you’re gonna do is bring the crochet hook back out to the front of the work, bringing that stitch with it, like that.

So now you have one stitch here on your crochet hook and in order to start binding off you need two. So what we’re going to do is do that again in the next stitch on the lifeline, which is right here. Insert the crochet hook into the center of that stitch, bring it up the back of the work like this, insert it into the first stitch purlwise, take your working yarn, wrap it around the stitch, and bring your crochet hook out the back of the stitch, and allow it to fall off the left needle. Then bring this stitch that’s on your crochet hook from the back of the work to the front of the work.

Now you have two stitches on your crochet hook and you are ready for your first bind off, which is a slip stitch. If you know crocheting it’s a slip stitch. You just grab that first stitch with your hook and you bring it through the first stitch that you made like that. That’s your first bound off stitch.

Let’s do that again so that you can see the rhythm you need to get into. So here we insert the crochet hook into the next stitch on the lifeline, bring it up the back, purl, wrap your yarn, and bring your crochet hook out the back of that stitch and allow it to come off the left needle. Then we’re going to bring that stitch through to the front of the work like that. You have two stitches on your crochet hook and slip stitch that stitch through.

Now you can see that a little chain is starting to form. We have two stitches. It’s key to be pretty loose while you do this. You don’t want this crochet chain to get too tight; you want it to be even and fairly loose so that your hem has some stretch and give. So don’t pull too tight when you do this step. And you can see that a really pretty little chain is forming. And so I’m going to work on doing that all the way around and we’ll come back when I’m at the end so you can see how to finish.

Once you’ve bound off your last stitch and you have just one stitch on your crochet hook, you’re going to cut your yarn and pull it through to the front of your work. So leave a nice tail that you can weave in and just pull it through to the front of your work, like that.

Now you can also see that there is a small gap here between where you started your bind off and where you ended, and so there’s a really simple way to close that gap neatly. You thread your tail onto a tapestry needle and you pass the needle under both legs of that first bound off stitch, like that, going from the bottom to the top. And pull your yarn through. And then you insert your needle through the center of the last bind off stitch, which is right here, and you insert the needle right through the center and pull your needle to the back of your work. So you have a tail at the back of your work ready to weave in and you seamlessly finished this nice line of your crochet bind off.

The last step is to pull your lifeline out. Just sort of go along like this and pull it out and then you can see right here this beautiful hem with this nice crochet detail along the edge of it. It’s a really wonderful way to finish cuffs, collars, even the bottom of a sweater if you’re working a top-down sweater. And that’s it, that’s all there is to it!

Knit Hem With Crochet Bind Off: Step-By-Step Instructions

Prefer still photos and text? Follow along here!

Knit Hem With Crochet Bind Off | Purl Soho

Start by locating the first stitch that’s on your lifeline by following the column of stitches down from the first stitch on your left needle, until you reach the lifeline.

Knit Hem With Crochet Bind Off | Purl Soho

Take your crochet hook and insert it into the center of that first stitch, from the front to the back.

Knit Hem With Crochet Bind Off | Purl Soho

Then bring the crochet hook up the back of the work and insert it into the first stitch on your left needle purlwise, as if you’re purling a stitch.

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Next, wrap your yarn clockwise around your crochet hook and pull a loop through the stitch on your circular needle, then let that stitch fall off the needle.

Knit Hem With Crochet Bind Off | Purl Soho

Pull your hook back through to the front, taking that new stitch with you, folding your hem in half. You’ll have one loop on your hook… And in order to start binding off you’ll need two.

So now, repeat those steps with the next stitch on the lifeline: Insert your crochet hook into the center of the next stitch on the lifeline, bring the hook up the back, and insert it purlwise into the first stitch on the circular needle. Then wrap your working yarn around, pull a loop through the stitch, and allow it to fall off the left needle.

Knit Hem With Crochet Bind Off | Purl Soho

As before, bring the stitch on your crochet hook through from the back of the work to the front, so you now have two stitches on your crochet hook and you are ready for your first bind off.

Knit Hem With Crochet Bind Off | Purl Soho

To do that, simply, work a crochet slip stitch by grabbing the first stitch with your hook and bringing it through the second stitch, which will leave just one stitch on the hook.

Repeat those steps: Insert the crochet hook into the next stitch on the lifeline; bring it up the back of your work; insert the hook purlwise through the first stitch on the needle; wrap your yarn; pull a loop through that stitch; allow the stitch to come off the left needle; bring the new stitch through to the front of the work; work a slip stitch bind off.

Knit Hem With Crochet Bind Off | Purl Soho

You’ll see a neat little chain starting to form as you bind off stitches. It’s key to keep these bound-off stitches pretty loose, so that the crochet chain has some give and allows your hem to stretch.

Knit Hem With Crochet Bind Off | Purl Soho

Continue all the way along your row or round. Once you’ve bound off your last stitch and you have just one stitch on your crochet hook, cut your yarn, leaving a tail to weave it, and pull it through to the front of your work.

Knit Hem With Crochet Bind Off | Purl Soho

If you’re working in the round, you’ll see that there is a small gap between where you started your bind off and where you ended. To close it, thread your tail onto a tapestry needle and pass the needle under both legs of that first bound off stitch in the crochet chain, going from the bottom to the top, and pull your yarn through.

Knit Hem With Crochet Bind Off | Purl Soho

Next, insert your needle through the center of the last bound off stitch in the chain, and pull your needle to the back of your work so that the tail is at the back of your work, ready to weave in.

Knit Hem With Crochet Bind Off | Purl Soho

The last step is to pull your lifeline out by picking it out a little bit at a time with your tapestry needle, revealing your beautiful hem with a nice crochet detail along the edge, a really wonderful way to finish cuffs, collars, and hems of sweaters. That’s it… That’s all there is to it!

Knit Hem With Crochet Bind Off | Purl Soho

Matching Hem For A Cast-On Edge

Getting the same crochet chain detail along a cast-on hem is a very different technique! Here’s how you do it…

  • Start with a One-Step Provisional Cast On, using your main yarn. The crochet chain you create while you work this cast on will end up being the crochet chain detail of your hem!
  • Once you have cast on the number of stitches your pattern tells you, turn the work. The side facing you is now considered the right side. If working in the round, join for working in the round.
  • Work until the piece measures twice the height you want your hem to be.
Knit Hem With Crochet Bind Off | Purl Soho
  • Next, create the hem by picking up the purl bump (look for the smile-shaped stitch) from the cast-on row in the same column as the next stitch, purl 2 together (p2tog, picked up stitch and next stitch on needle), repeat to end of row/ round.
  • Now, turn the work so chain side of knit hem is facing you. This is now the right side and you can continue on with your work! This is how we made the bottom hem of our Essential Knit Tee. Link to this beautiful pattern below!

Try Out The Knit Hem With Crochet Bind Off

Knit Hem With Crochet Bind Off | Purl Soho

We use this bind off in our Essential Knit Tee knitting pattern to create an edging for the neckline and cuffs that matches the folded hem with crochet detail at the bottom of the tee!

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