My Little Hem Trick & a Modern Interpretation of a 1940s Outfit

I always enjoy reading other people's tips about how to do things better, especially sewing tips. Being sort of new to sewing clothing, I don't have a lot of tips to give out myself. But I did realize I do something sort of peculiar that might help other seamstresses. When I hem a dress or skirt, I always use a plastic card. My personal choice is an old expired calling card that for some reason never got thrown away, but really any card would do (credit, debit, library, or any one of the thousands of "club" cards from stores you rarely frequent that are gumming up your wallet at this very moment). The reasoning behind this is that the card's size never changes so I eliminate some sloppiness on my part because I'm not big on measuring. These cards are 2 1/8 inches, which is perfect for most hems. Need a wider hem? Turn it on its end and a card is 3 3/8 inches.

Here's how I do up a hem.

First I turn under the raw edge and sew it. I tend to zig-zag with fabrics that aren't too see-through and use a straight stitch with those that are. I'm sure a straight stitch is probably fine for everything, though.

Then I take my old calling card and fold the fabric over it until it is even with the top.

I slip the slippery card out and pin the fabric in place.

Then repeat for the entire length of the hem. I start at two seams, then do the section in the very middle of those two seams, then the middle of the two sections I just made, then the middle of those four sections, etc. so that I'm always pinning between two other pins an equal distance from each of them. This helps me ease in all the fabric that needs to be sewn.

Then just hand sew the hem, catching only a couple threads of the fabric on the part that will show on the outside (otherwise you end up seeing the stitching on the outside).

Here's the 1948 skirt that hem belonged to, along with a 1946 shirt, both McCall's. I started these in the summer, but they are really more appropriate for fall.

The skirt is supposed to have a wide waistband and the shirt is supposed to have a lot of darts near the waist that make it easy to tuck in, but my waist measurement makes this sort of a bad idea right now. If my waist ever gets smaller, I'll go back and add the darts and put a waistband on the skirt. As it stands, I guess this is a more modern way to wear these old styles, but I look forward to the time when I can do it the right way. Here are the patterns to give you an idea of what they should look like.

Note how these ladies' waists seem to be the same circumference as their heads. Yeah, that happens in real life. And apparently gold bangles were definitely in style in 1946. I made the skirt up in a green and black synthetic fabric that reads "olive drab" from a distance and the shirt is black textured linen that I somehow missed at Jo-Ann's all summer until there was only enough left in the whole store to make a sleeveless shirt. I would have liked to have made a dress out of it, but at least I have a bit of it in my wardrobe.

The back buttons all the way (and let me tell you those middle buttons are nearly impossible to do up yourself) with vintage buttons I found at the Bay City Antiques Center when I was there in June with my dad. I know nothing about dating buttons, but I thought these matched well. They look like tiny ziggurats.

Feels good to finally get these two projects finished. I think I'll wear this outfit with my black peep toes soon.