Notice they took in two thousand and gave them a neatly sewn edge (6)
I believe the answer is:
hemmed
'sewn edge' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are past participle verbs, I cannot understand how they can define each other.
'notice they took in two thousand and gave them a neatly' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'thousand' could be 'm' (Roman numeral for a thousand) and 'm' is found in the answer.
'them' could be 'em' (abbreviation) and 'em' is found within the answer.
The remaining letters 'hed' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for hemmed that I've seen before include "Sought attention" , "Edged with stitching" , "made an attention-seeking cough" .)