What is the best way to hem this dress?

Question

Ok, so this is the bridesmaids dress for my sisters wedding and my SIL wants me to hem her dress. I know how to do a normal hem but with the overskirt thing idk how to do that and make it look right because it is about 2 inches up from the bottom hem. I took mine into David's Bridal to get mine hemmed but it cost a lot! Almost as much as my dress so I was just going to try to hem it. So can you give me some tips on how to hem up the overskirt so it looks right? Would it work to just bring it up a little and then taper it? I don't think i'll need to take more than 2-4 inches off...... I'm thinking more like 2-3 though.

Here is the dress:

http://davidsbridal.com/bridesmaids_detail.jsp?stid=1552&prodgroup=110

Answer 1

You always want to take the hem of any dress wearing the shoes you plan to do with this dress.  Stand on a short stool, have a friend set on the floor and with a ruler measure from the stool to where you want the hem. Place a pin there and turn ever so slightly and make again.  Continue around the dress until you come to the start of you marking.  There are products available in the notions department of fabric stores that are very useful.  Doing the hem on a garment is always a two person job.

The reason you want to mark the hem while on a person is that our hips (if over normal size) takes up dress length in the back.  If you simply take a ruler and cut off so many inches and then turn the hem up, the back of the gament  will likely be shorter in the back than in the front when you put the gament on.  This causes most garments look home made regardless of what it cost. If you are in the last tri-mister of a pregnancy you will want to have extra length in the front.

Answer 2

The overskirt part is quite easy to do and it is a shame that anyone pays altering charges that cost almost the same as the dress. First, determine how much shorter the dress needs to be. You said you know how to shorten a normal hem, so we will just focus on the overskirt part.  All you need to do is mark the hem and then taper it to the swag piece. I usually try to taper it back into the original egde within 6". You may need to take out of bit of stitching on the original edge of the swag, and then sew the new tapered edge/hem and on up to the original edge. It works best on a curved edge to press with a dry cloth so as not to stretch the edge (it is on the bias and very stretchy).  I am not sure if this will be clear to you; but just think about it and try it on a piece of scrap fabric. I think you will understand then. Good luck!