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liadethorneggeOnce upon a time, a long time ago, I made a fully lined wool dress. The shell was a lovely black and red wool which reads as a dark plum, and the lining was a lovely soft yellow linen.
I had it almost finished at my first Double Wars (May 2005), there was only the hem left to do - which I did the night before the big court day with large basting stitches, and without cutting the length down to anything resembling appropriate.
I wore it like that for a bit until some of the large darning stitches started to run and some lining started to peek out.
At that point (June 2006) I took it in, ripped the temporary hem out, and ironed everything neatly and very carefully blindstitched the lining to the shell fabric to form an integral hem. And all was well.
I wore it to a few events, then the gown has languished on its hanger in my closet. I used it at Visby 2008 where I saw a picture of me in it and realized that the lining had seriously started to creep down. That shade of yellow is very visible when the lining is too long.
And now, finally, on Tuesday I brought the dress with me to sewing with Elizabeth here in Frostheim, and I ripped out the old, carefully stitched hem, I ironed the linen flat, and cut off up to an inch of excess length.
Then I proceeded to do a double fold them for the shell wool while we watched Shakespeare In Love, and on Wednesday after work I finished stitching a double-fold hem on the lining separately, making sure the lining is at least a finger shorter than the shell all around. The problem with a full skirt with lining not attached at the hem is that things can float a little too much and bunch up, so to combat this I attached the lining at every gore seam to the shell with a loop of thread about an inch long. This means that the layers will be kept together without forcing the issue.
Although hemming a gown is possibly the most boring thing in the world I feel it is worth it, because the dress itself is quite fabulous, and very versatile.
And so, the tale of the creeping hem is ended. For now.
I had it almost finished at my first Double Wars (May 2005), there was only the hem left to do - which I did the night before the big court day with large basting stitches, and without cutting the length down to anything resembling appropriate.
I wore it like that for a bit until some of the large darning stitches started to run and some lining started to peek out.
At that point (June 2006) I took it in, ripped the temporary hem out, and ironed everything neatly and very carefully blindstitched the lining to the shell fabric to form an integral hem. And all was well.
I wore it to a few events, then the gown has languished on its hanger in my closet. I used it at Visby 2008 where I saw a picture of me in it and realized that the lining had seriously started to creep down. That shade of yellow is very visible when the lining is too long.
And now, finally, on Tuesday I brought the dress with me to sewing with Elizabeth here in Frostheim, and I ripped out the old, carefully stitched hem, I ironed the linen flat, and cut off up to an inch of excess length.
Then I proceeded to do a double fold them for the shell wool while we watched Shakespeare In Love, and on Wednesday after work I finished stitching a double-fold hem on the lining separately, making sure the lining is at least a finger shorter than the shell all around. The problem with a full skirt with lining not attached at the hem is that things can float a little too much and bunch up, so to combat this I attached the lining at every gore seam to the shell with a loop of thread about an inch long. This means that the layers will be kept together without forcing the issue.
Although hemming a gown is possibly the most boring thing in the world I feel it is worth it, because the dress itself is quite fabulous, and very versatile.
And so, the tale of the creeping hem is ended. For now.
