Help for sewing terry knit

[Wholly Mama]

I'm hemming some pants for a friend. One pair is stretch terry. I need some help with what kind of stitch to use so that they don't flare out the material. I've already had to pull out two seams!
Thanks!

[QuiltinGramma]

Do you have a stretch stitch on your sewing machine? That might work. Or simply sewing them by hand. Sometimes I will sew hems by hand and other times I will use my sewing machine. It just depends on how I'm feeling that day.

[Tengokujin]

IME, the only way to guarantee no problems seaming with knits is to practice on scraps before the actual garment,but this is a finished garment....hmmmm.

The effect you are getting sometimes is due to the presser foot pressing down too tightly on the fabric, squishing/stretching it out just as it is being stretched. Some machines I believe have an adjustment to loosen how tightly the presser foot squeezes the fabric. That could help. Some machines come with a quilting foot--that might work too.

Another trick I have done when seaming a squishy knitted fabric is to push the fabric up BEHIND the presser foot as I am seaming, to counteract the squishing effect of the presser foot. Does that make sense? It's like I am encouraging more fabric to pass under the presser foot. I do this now almost anytime I seam with a knit fabric.

You can play with thread tension too.

In the pre-serger, stretch stitch days, sewers used zigzag stitch a lot to control knit fabric. I have done a very minor zigzag--meaning barely noticeable not straight stitch--on topstitching on knit fabrics with good success.

If you have a serger or a sewing machine that has differential feed, you could play with that.

Sometimes the only option is to do it several times.... :(