I’ve been keeping busy this past week doing some hemming and some hacking. Not the break-into-your-computer-or-website-to-steal-your-passwords hacking. The kind you do with a virtual sword or axe. Only in my case I hacked with a virtual pistol mostly. Perhaps I used some incorrect terminology.
The point is, I am still enjoying Guild Wars 2, and my sewing time is still reduced. Ironic since Halloween is around the corner, but after DragonCon I have plenty of costuming gear to wear this year. Oh – sidenote!
Ahoy me hearties! Today is Talk Like a Pirate Day! My project for today was supposed to be none other than a pair of pajama pants with pirates on them – you are shocked, no? However, these pajama pants are not even cut out yet. Alas, this here landlubber can only contribute this:
Last year’s Halloween costume and first real complete sewing project. Elizabeth may have something more pirate-y to offer me hearties on this fine September day.
Back to your originally scheduled posting.
Aside from my MMO gaming habits of late, I took the time to hem my bridesmaid dress for my sister’s wedding, which is rapidly approaching in less than 2 weeks. I’ve hemmed plenty of times for my projects, but never taken someone else’s sewing work and modified it. I was a little nervous, especially since the dress was expensive and made from nice silk taffeta! I had a dilemma regarding how to hem the dress too. I didn’t want to trip over at the reception in my flip flops, but I would be wearing heels for the ceremony. I wore it with both pairs of shoes, and decided on a hem that touched the top of my feet in the flip flops, but which provided minor visibility to my shoes when in heels.
In my humble opinion, there were two good reasons to hem this dress. One:
At 5’8”, the dress shop told me I would need extra length. Based on the above picture, I disagree. I took off about 8 inches of dress from the front and about 6 inches from the back (since that butt part sticks out and requires a bit more material than your front side). Anyway my second reason for hemming:
Such fun shoes should be somewhat visible! I don’t get to wear these often, and I love them.
Hemming this dress was a little complicated. The outer layer by itself would have been fine. But the dress has not one, but 1 and a half linings. One lining is completely unattached from the skirt sides. But one was only a front lining and it was attached at the side seams. See below.
I hemmed the outside first. My husband helped me pin the hem. And then I measured around the front side according to his middle front pin. Did the same with the backside, which got less of a hem, and let the hem ease from front to back at the sides. It looks pretty even, so I am pleased. Here is the dress after hemming the outside taffeta.
Next I did the attached lining part. I used Fred 2.0 to help me free a little bit of the lining from the side stitching, but then I realized it was taking stitches out of the main fabric too … eeek! So I stopped that quickly. I wound up cutting right next to the seam on the lining, and then when I did my narrow hem, stitched just slightly over the seam to make sure nothing funny unraveled. The iron was my friend for this hemming project. Next I cut the lining, ironed, pinned, and stitched the hem on the unattached piece. Other than possibly being uneven (who can see it anyway??) and just a smidge too long in a couple spots, it come out fine. No one is going to notice either of these things. And I only have to wear it once! 🙂 Finished product:
And now with heels.
And I suppose you might want to see the full dress. Have I mentioned that it has pockets, which I love?
I suspect my sewing will pick up a bit more in October as the hubby is traveling a bunch, and the itch is starting to build. I did acquire some fabric last week. Some from a sale at Hancock last weekend – mostly scraps and batting for an upcoming event of Elizabeth’s where we will be sewing cage blankets for a local animal shelter. I am excited for that. I also bought some striped knit fabric that I liked, and some oilcloth for a fairly easy tablecloth project a friend of mine suggested. Since I am continually hurting my dining room table which I love very much, this seemed like a good idea. Also, fabric arrived in the mail for the first of my next year costumes (details TBA), and for my Freddy Krueger sweater project that I will be doing in the next few weeks for a friend’s daughter.
In the meantime, it’s back to the land of the virtual … ta! 🙂
Sew Frustrating! 