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Sini Tuulia @sinituulia@eldritch.cafe
2mo
Yesterday's sewing! Made a bunch of bias strip from leftover cotton twill, then pinked the seams to make them less bulky, overlocked one edge... Then spent a while basting the thus created hem facing onto the skirt, machine stitched it on, flipped and ironed it, and then basted it on again... Now all it needs is hours of hand sewing the top edge on! 😸

The whole bunch of bias strip, now becoming hem facing, being hand tacked or basted onto the skirt hem, of which there is also a lot. The pale green skirt fabric has large pretty embroidered flowers in the same colour, and while it's very soft and floppy as it still sits on the desk, waiting the hem facing... The bits where the facing is only loosely attached with pink basting thread, the skirt hem is much more structured and substantial looking.
A whole bunch, about seven metres, of darker green cotton twill as a 7cm wide bias strip. Showing one seam joining two bits of it together to make a long long whole, with the narrow seam allowance cut with pinking shears to give it a more geometric but less noticeable profile through a thin fabric. There's a mug full of the bits of fabric cut off, and a big pair of pinking shears right next. There's a sliver of the flank of a sleeping black cat in frame.
The facing sewn on, flipped to the correct side (which is the underside with the skirt seam allowances) and being basted on again. The machine overlocked upper edge just sits inside the skirt, while the sewn on lower edge finishes the skirt hem. Sini's pink hand on top of the sewing, claiming ownership.
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Sini Tuulia @sinituulia@eldritch.cafe
2mo
The hem facing is pressed in such a way that the hardier twill facing is the bit that touches the ground or floor, and the much harder to replace skirt fabric does not. If it was a very similar colour it would be nearly invisible, but I'm not bothered by this little bit of darker green for the functionality!
Closer up photo of the skirt hem, with the hem facing attached, flipped to the wrong side, and pressed in such a way that the edge of a darker green fabric rolls into view. There's only a couple of millimetres of it, but this means it'll hit whatever and the skirt itself does not. Which is good, because the skirt fabric is a delicate pale green, thin, with large decorative embroidered flowers with English embroidered lace sections. That would not hold up to touching the ground at all.
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Sini Tuulia @sinituulia@eldritch.cafe
2mo
I did also redo the hooks side of the waistband, since while all the seam lines etc. matched, the skirt did not want to sit nicely there. There's rather a lot of hem and embroidered fabric and a bunch of closures in the placket below so I thought it would be best to disregard the bits matching and rather go for a good drape and fall. It was easier to do by hand too, so now there's a bit of almost invisible hand sewing there...
Oh, and finished the thread bars! Three pairs for adjustability!
The bars and eyes side, with three pairs of thread bars sewn onto the waistband, and the metal eyes nicely hidden between two seams of the placket. The thread bars are done in a variegated cotton thread, and go between at least three different hues of green. It doesn't look bad, but was a compromise as Sini did not want to wait for a different thread, and these will be hidden usually.
A nicely sitting flat waistband closure, where there's a pair of tidily sewn thread bars, and the rest of the closures are fully invisible. The waistband looks a bit wider on one side, and narrower on the other, with tiny little stitches only very slightly visible (even in extreme close up) on the hooks side. The waistband edge is offset, but everything sits nicely over the placket.
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Sini Tuulia @sinituulia@eldritch.cafe
2mo
I did, of course, have a reasonable amount of assistance with my sewing.
A pair of small plump cat paws standing directly on top of a bit of hand sewing. The process of attaching skirt hem facing has been halted by a ginger cat now upon the work! The photo is cute, just the abstract mass of pale green skirt, Sini's black clothes in the foreground, and the blurry shape of the cat's front body in the upper of frame, blurry. The paws, so dainty though!
The work, somewhat later, with the hem facing attached and pressed open. The ginger tabby cat is loafing on the skirt like a dignified sphinx, with all sorts of desktop and sewing faff in the background. His orange hues pleasantly contrast the green of the skirt, and his eyes are of similar green as the skirt. He looks very handsome, with his stripes very striking and orderly on his chest.
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Sini Tuulia @sinituulia@eldritch.cafe
2mo
Just got to the task of sewing the hem facing upper edge on... And regrettably while it would hold just fine to make much more spaced stitches, my hands go "this fabric is soft and thin, requires finer stitches" and apparently I'm just going to be here for a while, then.
Very close up photo of the tiny dinky whipstitch Sini is sewing to hold the hem facing. The thread is a variegated cotton one, the current hue being applied a sort of golden green. It stands out from the overlocked edge of the darker green facing and less from the pale green of the skirt fabric. The density of the stitches is silly for attaching a facing, much less fiddly would do.
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Sini Tuulia @sinituulia@eldritch.cafe
2mo
I've been taking a longer break and would love to beseech encouragement to get through the rest of the hem, but even photos of the finished result mostly look like nothing happened... Ah, so much work for something nearly invisible!
Close up of the hem of a pale green skirt with embroidered flowers in the fabric. There's a very very very faint line of tiny little reasonably evenly spaced stitches in almost the same colour as the fabric denoting where, on the reverse, hem facing has been painstakingly been sewn on by hand. On smartphone you probably can't see it without zooming in, even! Pale pink Sini fingies in frame.
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just_chill @just_chill@peculiar.florist
2mo
@sinituulia the result being invisible is the point, so props to you for making this happen !
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Sini Tuulia @sinituulia@eldritch.cafe
2mo
@just_chill Thank!
Ah, it's always just a bit funny to do so so much more work than is strictly necessary to make something nice and completely "miss it if you don't bring a magnifying glass" ​:neofox_laugh_sweat:​
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