Gertie's New Blog for Better Sewing: Slip Sew-Along #8: Sewing the Lace at the Hem

Hello, sew-alongers! I’ve decided we’re going to skip the straps for now, and move on to the lace at the hem. But don’t worry; I’ll have a video for the straps to show you soon.

Okay, let’s get going. You need a long length of your wide stretch lace, the same stuff you used at the neckline and under the bra.

First, trim off the excess from one of the floral motifs on your lace. You want it to have a nice smooth edge around one of the flowers.

We’re going to start pinning the lace at the circle mark above the slit on the left side hem. Don’t have a circle mark? Me neither. No big deal, I consulted the pattern and you need a mark about 4.25” above the top of the cut-out wedge for the slit. Make a tiny dot there.

Pin the top of the flower motif in place so that it just covers your dot mark.

Now, pin it down the left side of the slit so that the edge of the lace is flush with the raw edge of the fabric on the slit.

When you get to the corner, fold in the excess to form a miter.

Keep pinning the lace around the bottom of the slip.

Your lace edge is still flush with the bottom of the fabric. Go all the way around the slip until you get to the other side of the slit. Form a second miter.

Pin the lace up the right side of the slit. Temporarily remove the left side of the lace from the slit and place the end of the right side lace underneath it. Cut it off at the top, and then hide it underneath the floral motif that you trimmed down in the beginning of these instructions.

Get out a hand sewing needle and some thread. Slip stitch the fold of the miters in place, only catching the lace, not the slip underneath it.

Unpin the corners and trim away the excess from behind your slip stitching.

Pin the corners back in place. Now we’re ready to zigzag the lace all the way around the hem.

Put your machine on a square 2.5 x 2.5 zigzag stitch. Begin stitching across the top of the overlapped lace (at the top of the slit). Then stitch down the outer edge of the lace down the left side of the slit. If your lace is scalloped (like mine is) follow the scallops of the lace as you stitch as best you can. Hold the fabric slightly taut, but do not stretch it.

(Hey, check out my fancy new machine! More on that to come!)

Pivot at the top of the miters, and continue zigzagging along the upper edge of the lace.

When you get back to your starting point, backstitch and cut your threads.

Now we cut away the excess fabric. Start from behind the slit. Slash the fabric from behind the lace and cut it away next to the zigzag stitching. See how your slit forms an overlap?