Hem Hatred

I’d say, from start to finish, this skirt has taken the longest to make of anything I’ve ever sewn. It’s been over a year… a real UFO.

Was the pattern particularly complicated to sew..?

Nope, it’s really very simple.

Was the fabric difficult to sew..?

Really, really not.

The me of today shakes her head at the me of a year or so ago. I sewed the entire skirt but left the hem for over a year?! Honestly, I’ve no idea what I’ve been doing for the past year or so. Okay I do, I’ve been away from my sewing machine doing another degree.. but still… why didn’t I hem it when I sewed the rest of it?

The answer lies in one of the only two things I dislike about sewing. The first is finishing seams; I don’t own an overlocker, so however hard I try, those seams never look beautifully finished to me. The solution to this is pretty simple (buy an overlocker…) but this needs to be delicately negotiated with my bank balance over a cup of tea and a slice of cake.

My second hate is hemming. I can never seem to get skirt and dress hems level! I have a dressmakers dummy which is supposed to help with the dreaded task, but frankly I’m not sure it helps one bit. My problem with hemming is that on the one hand, I’m an impatient sewist, and once I’ve got to the hem, I know the end is in sight and I’ll be able to wear the garment sharpish.

On the other hand, I can’t stand a wonky hem. I’m not ashamed to say I can spot them a mile off and it’s my real pet peeve. In fact, I’ve made poorly hemmed garments and never worn them because I’m self conscious about the bad hem.

Saki Jane recently talked about this on her Insta Stories, pondering whether she really needed to re-do the hem because it wasn’t quite level. In the end she did, but I agree sometimes there are cases where it’s not necessary to spend ages worrying over the straightness of the hem. Sure, the hem on this skirt isn’t perfect – far from it – but is it good enough for me to actually wear it? Yes, and that’s all that matters in the end.

Okay I will stop harping on about hems now – I hate them, you get it. A bit about the skirt itself: I found the fabric in a remnants bin in my local fabric shop. The colour is much brighter than I usually go for but I think it looks rather festive! Even better, it’s work-suitable!

The pattern is New Look K6107, view E, which I got free with Sew Magazine.

I’m quite pleased with the pattern matching with the waistband.. I’d like to say I planned that but honestly it was complete fluke…!

Overall I’m pleased with how this turned out, although I really wish I’d bitten the bullet a year ago and just hemmed it there and then. A lesson learnt!

PS Is the terrible state of my hair in these pictures the fault of Storm Ophelia (when I took these) or is it really because I forgot to brush it? You decide 🙂