Hemming Naughty Chiffon

the wobbly bits get dewobbled with bigger feet (sugru to the rescue)

Hemming continues at ErnieK labs. I've had to shut the windows a few times, to keep the profanity stream from flowing down to the small children below. I gave the iron a wider stance with added Sugru feet so it would stop toppling over and adding to the general mayhem.

Dresses hanging and ready for second hem.

 The dresses have two skirts: a well behaved taffeta light grey underskirt, and a very naughty chiffon overskirt that droops and drags and throws pins out like a ... a naughty chiffon.

The taffeta is hemmed on the table, takes about five minutes.

The chiffon has to be hung up and marked. There goes an hour or more.

 I pin it to the underskirt, and use coil-less safety pins that I stab into the chiffon, eyeball for level (yes, I have a gridded cutting board on edge to assist in estimating a level), and then close when I'm satisfied. And my satisfaction level decreases as the day wears on.

No, they weren't level enough. Did I mention the skirts bias on the side seams, drooping EVEN MORE? Naughty chiffon, naughty!

I know, pining the layers together is not a great idea, but that naughty chiffon has a habit of dancing away from me otherwise.

My new love: coil-less safety pins.

Back on the ironing board.

 

Yes, I am ironing over pins

I use glassheaded pins, the longest ones I can find (1.25") and have a heavy felt wool pad under that cotton June Tailor cover. It's accurate enough, but that grid hasn't been square in years. The wool prevents a heavy steam from boiling the fabric on the table.

Because I'm hemming for tiny girls on generic length skirts, sometimes I have to turn the hems a couple times, making pleats in the middle layers. Yes, I will iron right next to my fingers. Yes, I cannot use a touch screen; I have 'dead finger' from too much shop time. I can snag chiffon with my fingertips.  Which just adds to the fun!

To repin, I have to do it on the flat (picking up the edge distorts it) so I slide one of those flexible cutting boards. I do pull it out to iron.

It did occur to me that I could use one of those Slipat baking liners and I could iron over it, but then there's that boiling fabric matter. Eh, I have enough sewing room notions and tools as it is.

So it continues. 20 done. 15 more to go. I think: I am quite sure that whatever I thought my per piece labor was, I have quite blown it into shards.