For most of my sewing career, I’ve been a speeder. I always wanted to get through projects quickly, and would forgo certain steps that I considered unnecessary. As I’ve become more experienced, I’ve realized that some of those steps aren’t quite as unnecessary as I first thought.
About a year ago, I helped a friend of mine–a sewing novice–make a dress. I guided her through most of the construction and then talked her through what she would need to do on her own to finish the garment. Later, she told me that she absolutely loved the dress and how it fit, but she never did understand the instructions for the hem, which had turned out terribly.
Now, my solution to curved hems was always to do a hem as narrow as possible and then just take a tuck or two here and there as I sewed it down (usually by machine–are you cringing yet?). I generally ended up with a few wonky spots, but nothing that bothered me too much and/or that couldn’t be smoothed down with a good hot (and heavy) iron.
My friend’s problem was that she followed the directions to do a nice wide hem, but she didn’t understand the instructions for easing the top edge. After helping her correct the problem, we now both do hems the right way. (Unless I can get away with using my rolled hem foot!)
Gathering stitch at upper fold. This would then be folded up to create the desired depth of hem.
For the uninitiated, in order to ease your hem, you need to run a gathering stitch right at the point where the fabric will fold at the top edge of your hem (the fold that is inside that gets stitched down, not the one on the bottom of the skirt). I usually do this in sections, beginning where there is a seam and ending at the next one; this makes it simpler to manage the easing of the fabric to fit the curve of the skirt.
Once my gathering stitches are in, I press right where the stitching is, keeping the stitches slightly to the inside of the fold. Before pressing the next fold, I pull up the gathering stitches a bit; then, as I press, I make slight adjustments, making sure that everything is matching up properly each time I come to a side seam. I pin as I go along so that things don’t shift once I start sewing the hem, which I always sew by hand now.
The eased, pressed, and pinned hemline from the inside.
Ultimately, the goal is to end up without any tucks (as I used to do) in the upper edge of your hem…just some very light easing…and no twisting in the visible hemline.
I greatly apologize for the blurry picture. I know I should never do this, but it is the only one I took of the inside of the hem before I sewed it. You can see the pins in place and the thread ends from the basting stitches. It also shows how the hem should seem to lie perfectly flat.