Hemming Tutorial

Being I'm only five feet tall, I am constantly having to hem pants, skirt lengths, or dress lengths. What would be a mini skirt for most gals, is a knee skirt for me. And what is a knee skirt for other ladies, ends up being a midi skirt for me. Don't even get me started on anything that is ankle length or longer!

I'm also a big advocate of skirts and dresses hitting right at the knee. When a skirt or dress hits a small point of your leg (just below your knee as your calf curves into to hit the knee, or right at the knee is you have small knees) it accentuates the smallest point of your leg, making your legs appear thinner. The knee skirt length also helps to give your body the right proportions. If you look at the body's silhouette, it can be placed into thirds. Your top torso to your waist, your waist to your knee, and your knee to your feet. If the hem line cuts off right at the end of the second third of your proportion, you will create a very balanced and proportioned silhouette.

That being said...I've posted about how I do a blind stitch hem before. But now I want to show you how to do a machine stitch hem on a full skirt.

First, measure and use chalk or a piece of white soap to draw a line to wear you want the length of the skirt to hit. Measure two inches or more below that and cut.

At the edge of the cut off hem, baste a very loose stitch about a half an inch or inch from the bottom of the hem. I did two rows of stitching, but one should work.
Then pull the loose threads from the basted stitch to gather the fabric ever so slightly.

Iron under the gathered pieces making the crease hit right at the line of your gathered stitches, so the basting/gathering is tucked under.

Then iron under the hem again to meet the desired length you either pinned, chalked, or soaped and iron. You can either hand stitch a blind stitch, or machine stitch the hem from there, right at the top of the fold.

Hope that helps!