Chanson de Vie Dance Studio

Have you ever worked really hard on a costume skirt only to have it break your spirit in the end because you can’t get the hem even? Hemming seems like it should be the easiest part. After all, it’s usually the last thing you have to do, right? You’ve conquered getting the waistband just right. You mastered sewing those slippery fabrics (I swear the devil invented chiffon and satin!) The hem should be a piece of cake!

I don’t know about you, but I shed many a tear over hems. They’re either wavy and completely uneven, or too long in the front or too short in the back, or one side was completely off. It didn’t matter what kind of skirt, either. I thought I’d outsmart the costume and make a straight skirt or trumpet skirt instead of the circle variety. No dice. They’re all a pain in the butt.

Well it took a few years, but I finally mastered skirt hemming. And there are several solutions you can use to make life easier on you.

1) Always, always, always hang your skirt for at least a week before hemming. This is THE cardinal rule for making skirts. The reason for the uneven hem is that your fabric is cut on the bias. That means you cut it on a diagonal to the grain. So what? Well, when you cut on the bias, that line will stretch over time. It stretches A LOT, even if you’re using a woven fabric like satin with no stretch. The bias stretch is the reason you can have a perfectly straight hem on the day you sew it, and then a month later it’s completely off.

Hanging is the only solution here. Take your skirt and suspend it from the waistband on a hanger. Leave it there for at least a week, preferable two or three weeks. THEN cut the hem even and sew it up. I know this means you can’t sew those last minute costumes. But trust me, you’ll be glad you took this step.

2) Cut the hem off straight. I call this the “hack ‘n slash” method of cutting a hem line. Let’s face it, you’ve got a lot of fabric hanging there. You can try marking it, measuring it, all sorts of methods for cutting that line even. But I’ve found the easiest and best way for me is to just hold my scissors parallel to the floor, find the shortest section of skirt and just cut straight across to match that section. (Of course, you’ll need to be sure that shortest section is long enough to make you happy.)

You’ll be cutting through several layers, and the cut marks won’t be even. But when you’re done, the skirt will be all the same length. (You did hang it first, right?) The trick is to hang the skirt so the hem is about arm level for you and keep the scissors parallel to the floor at all times. It’s a little scary the first few times you do this, but trust yourself and you’ll be amazed that it works out every time.

If you need practice, hang up an old bedsheet or scrap fabric so that it folds like your skirt will. Then just cut away at it, trying to keep your scissors even the whole time. If you’re super concerned, you could add a carpenter’s level on top of your scissors.

3) Serge the hem with an overlock machine. There are several ways to do this. If you have a serger with a coverstitch option (like the Juki MO735), you can sew a professional looking edge. If your serger doesn’t have this option, you can do a tight rolled hem or a plain serged edge. This hem treatment is best for woven fabrics like chiffon and satin. Serging keeps these temperamental fabrics from unraveling on you.

4) Leave the edge plain. For some knit fabrics like slinky or regular spandex, you can forget about sewing the hem altogether. Just make sure you cut the line neatly, and the edge is fine just as it is. If you want a curly “lettuced” edge, use a serger with a differential feed or just stretch the fabric tightly as you go on your regular machine. A high speed sewing machine makes this job a breeze.

5) Embellish and finish the edge at the same time with a machine beaded hem. This hem treatment makes a gorgeous sparkly hem. You’ll need a machine that accepts a beading or pearl foot (like the Bernina 950). You’ll also need 4mm spool of faceted beads (like the Mardi Gras beads, preformed on a string). All you have to do is run a simple zig-zag stitch along the edge of your hem. The beading foot feeds the strand into the sewing edge and attaches the beads to the edge beautifully! This makes a lovely veil edging, too.

Warning: Make sure you test the width of your zig-zag with the hand wheel first. If it’s too narrow, you’ll hit a bead and break your needle. If it’s too wide, you’ll get a sloppy edge.

6) Embellish the edge with decorative machine embroidery. You can mimic those expensive embroidered skirts from Turkey by using pre-embroidered fabric. But that can get really expensive. And if you need to adjust the hem, you have to do it from the waist–what a nightmare. It’s much easier to find someone with an embroidery sewing machine (like this Janome memory craft) and work the designs yourself after you’ve hung and cut the hem to the right length. You can either use a preprogrammed computerized design, or just draw a design on the skirt in chalk (or soap) and fill it in using the decorative stitches on your sewing machine. Add in a few sequins or beads–Beautiful!

I hope this little article has been helpful to you. If you come up with more ideas for “no-more-tears” hemming, post a comment below.

Mira has been a professional belly dancer since 1989 and has made hundreds of costumes for herself, troupe mates and for sale. She talks about sewing machines and accessories at www.SeriousSewing.com