Hemming a skirt first?

[gem]

I always hem my skirts as the very very very last step in the skirt/gown-making process, but I've seen where costumers will do the hem before attaching it to the waistband, etc, and then make any necessary length adjustments at the waist. To be honest, this sounds frought with all kinds of disaster. LOL

And yet... I think the skirt I'm making now will be easier if I hem it before I do anything else (pleats, waistband, guards, etc). Intellectually, I realize that I should have an exact rectangle, which theoretically should be a breeze to hem perfectly, and yet I'm still pretty skeptical.

Anyone have tips to make the process easier? (I want to do the hem, then the guards, then the pleats, then the seam, then the waistband. And mainly this is so I'm not sewing the guards onto the already-pleated skirt.)

Gramercy!!

[Kate XXXXXX]

I've been known to hem things first for this very reason.  Measure the length from wait to hem over whatever you'll be wearing under it and just baste to the waistband to try on before adjusting.

[Lady Kathleen of Olmsted]

I too, hem a skirt before attaching it to a waistband or Bodice. Because the skirts are worn with a bumroll, I make sure the back skirt panels are a little longer. From waist to floor, 2" for the hem, 1/2 inch for the Pleating guide facing.

[gem]

Thanks! I'll get the measuring done today, hopefully. But I'm not sure how to adjust at the waist, if necessary. If it's cartridge pleated, you're sewing the finished top edge to the finished bottom edge of the waistband--what can be adjusted there?

Another part of my brain is telling me that people who sell RTW garb are probably hemming all their skirts without any regard to the height or evenness of their hems on the wearers. 

[Kate XXXXXX]

Just cut the top with a gentle curve round the back to accommodate the extra needed for the bum roll.  It won't be enough of a curve that you can't get the gingham strip to cope with it, and you can still finish the edge.

[gem]

Well, I marked the hem today, on the flat fabric (top folded down for cartridge pleating). I got the measurement by putting another dress on my dress form and measuring the length of that skirt. So far, so good. (No bum roll, so the hem should be even all round.)

I sewed a 4" strip of gingham to the top selvage (4 yards), and flipped it over and pressed it down. So far, so good. Spread the yardage as flat as I could on my dining room floor, and measured down from the folded edge 39.5." All went well until I got to the last bit at the far end of the yardage, and somehow my line is off by .5"! I can't figure out where I went wrong.

On an ordinary skirt, I'd just fudge it (but how and which way?)--but my next step after hemming was going to be applying the 2" guards (2 of them) to the flat, hemmed yardage, and now the ends won't line up.

Suggestions? I could hem the skirt and sew up the side seam before applying the guards, which would make fudging easier, I suppose. But it would have been nice to actually get it right. 

[gem]

Ok, it is hemmed! Huzzah! Not quite like I *wanted* to do it, but that's OK.

I ended up sewing up the side seam first, which made wrestling all that yardage a gazillion times easier. Now I only had to find room to lay out flat 2 yards, instead of all 4. I could get the entire thing spread out absolutely flat (& weighted) and still had room to walk around all 4 sides. Plus, now I only had to mark half the skirt. I think I got it right. I guess we'll see how crooked it is once the guards and waistband are on! LOL

Is anyone else constantly surprised by how SHORT skirts look, once you've trimmed off the excess at the bottom? Or maybe that's only because *I'm* short! Ha!