I inherited the love of sewing from my Mom. With Easter quickly approaching, I'm reminded of our special mother-daughter tradition of picking out a new dress pattern and fabric for what would become my Easter dress. It's a tradition I'm happily continuing with my little girl!
We haven't finalized things for Easter just yet, but I did make Isabelle a cute little summer dress the other day with some leftover cloth in my stash. My friends are all sweeties and have gushed over the clothes I make, and they really loved this one! (It has a gathered back with a sweet little ruffle.)
Circular skirts can be a little bit of a pain, though, because they don't fold nice and flat in a narrow edge for the hem- no problem if you use a serger, but I prefer not to, so when I'm ironing up the first fold for the hem, I often get tiny "bubbles." I like the kind of bubbles you blow, not the fabric kind that muss up my hems.
Here is what I do to alleviate the extra fabric so I get a smoother fold, thus smoother hem.
I snip the edges. Then I take my time with the iron, allowing the snips to move and stretch where they need to as I'm ironing in the fold. You'll see little spaces where the fabric pulls apart to fit, and that's exactly what you want.
And if it's a particularly unforgiving fabric (won't stretch or doesn't have any give), I snip it again, forming teeny triangles. None of this will show in the finished hem...unless you're second fold is too narrow, but we'll save that tutorial for another day. =)
Please note- I do not advise you to try this with fabrics that are prone to fraying. No, that would leave you in a heap of a mess for sure! This works best with cottons, blends, and other non-fraying materials.
{nice & smooth}
There you have it! I still get the occasional "bubble," but since I'm a recovering perfectionist, I'm not going to let it ruin my day. When I'm sewing something for someone, those stitches get a lot of love, and that's what really counts!
linking up on these awesome blogs...
DIY by Design
Hope Studios
At the Picket Fence
Sew Many Ways
linking up on these awesome blogs...
DIY by Design
Hope Studios
At the Picket Fence
Sew Many Ways
5 comments:
I'm hoping to learn how to sew some skirts and dresses for my daughter this year. I'll keep this in mind. Thank you. :)
I find if I run a gathering line on the inside fold edge (the first edge I turn under) that it helps get a smooth hem, too. That's a really sweet dress!
What a great tip - I had never heard that one before. I'll be sure to try it on my next skirt. Thanks for sharing! Oh, and the dress is very cute!
Wow ... Thats a lovely dress and your kiddo looks soo sweet ... !!
I sew circle skirt hems with bias tape, works really well and stays hidden but if you use a lovely contrasting colour, it looks great peeping out on a windy day ;)
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