Sage Green Dress for School Dance + Tutorial

I hemmed this sage green pleated dress for a school dance. It was below the knee and I raised the hem to the top of the knee. I made the lining a little higher also.

This is the kind of alteration where I would love to use one of those chalk skirt marker stands where you squeeze a fine line of powdered chalk on the skirt. Pinning the hem up is sufficient for me as well. I’ve been working hard on my equipment list because I started small. Good news is, I have my necessities of 2 machines, my dress form, a Rowenta iron and many tools. I’m always on the lookout for a piece of equipment to update something else, it never ends!

The following pics are my work in progress. I certainly hope you enjoyed this post and have a great day!

Here, I have the skirt pinned upward. This is the part where I'd love to have one of those skirt markers. However this will suffice!

This is the dress before hemming. 

Before releasing the pins, I measured and marked with chalk the length to remove.

This is the right side of the fabric. Here, I flip the fabric under. I stitch just below the chalk mark.

Then, I cut the excess fabric close to the stitching.

I flip it over once more and stitch down right side up. I make sure my chalk marks are now on the edge. This is an alternative method to the rolled hem.

Now it's time to hem the lining. Here I use the pin and chalk method.  I place the dress on my dress form so it hangs properly. I use my seam gage to measure up the desired length of the lining. I placed a pin straight through the fabric and lining.  See my yellow pin at the top.

Here is my pin I inserted through the lining. I marked the pin area with chalk.

I turned the lining (usually the raw sides of the lining and fabric face each other) pinned and prepped for stitching.

Here I used my twin needle for stitching the lining hem.

Lastly I trimmed the excess lining fabric close to the stitching.  Final and most important step is to press the hems for a professional finish.