A while ago I wrote a post on hemming knits with a coverstitch, showing a way in which a row of basting thread helps you to stitch accurately. Definitely a method I recommend and I do it that way most of the time. Last week though I was a bit in a hurry to finish a dress and thought I could wing it. The reason I thought this was that the fabric was very stable, with no tendency to wrinkle or distort.
Well, it didn’t happen as I hoped. Most of it went right, but there was about 20 centimeters of a loose hem.
For the rest it was a nice hem and I didn’t feel like undoing the stitching (do you know that feeling that when you don’t want to unpick a coverstitch hem comes out very easily, when you want to unpick it takes forever?).
A piece of hemming tape was the solution. I cut away a bit of one side to make the stitching on the tape closer to my hem.
Ironed it and my hem was done, with great stitching on the front. Nobody will be the wiser seeing this dress.
The resulting dress, Vogue 8946, which I made more than 3 years ago in a print. It was a dress I loved to wear, but had reached the end of its life cycle. For this version I lowered the neckline a tiny bit and brought the shoulders a bit more in to the neckline. I made more photos but it’s ever so difficult to get good photos of this black fabric.
Oops, but a good fix.
ReplyDeleteI baste after you posted this and love the results, but sometimes I'm in a hurry and duh, the same thing happens, and I use fusible webbing or paper covered fusible to hold the part that didn't get sewn. We can't all be perfect all of the time after all can we? It is certainly a pita to take out cs. Sometimes it comes right out and other times, not so much.
ReplyDeleteYour dress looks wonderful on you. Super attractive. Brava.
ReplyDeleteOh I hear you about unpicking coverstitching however you have worked out a great solution on your gorgeous dress.
ReplyDeleteLovely dress and fabric :)
ReplyDeleteLove the style of your knit dress! It's unique and flattering too. I always use SewKeyes double sided tape for hemming - it makes the job so much easier. (I'm not associated with SewKeyes at all - I just love the quality of her products and use them for all sorts of the things - her interfacing is also excellent quality).
ReplyDeleteThank you for the link to SewKeyes. I'm not usually buying outside Europe any more because of the huge amount of shipping cost involved but it might be helpful to others.
DeleteIt's a lovely dress. Your quick fix worked out well.
ReplyDeleteI do this all the time when I have an opps moment while hemming! Nice dress.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the save and completing a very complimentary dress. It is so pretty on you. Love the gray with your coloring.
ReplyDelete