WEBVTT

00:00:00.400 --> 00:00:02.580
There is a box, in the corner of my sewing room.

00:00:03.440 --> 00:00:06.820
It is a box whose content have not seen the light of day for many a month.

00:00:07.220 --> 00:00:09.360
Many crafters will be familiar with this box.

00:00:09.360 --> 00:00:10.840
In all of its forms.

00:00:10.840 --> 00:00:14.020
There's the ever growing amorphous lump that lies underneath your desk

00:00:14.520 --> 00:00:16.020
the monster underneath your bed

00:00:16.620 --> 00:00:19.840
The stuff you vacuumed packed in a fit of organization and stuffed into your garage

00:00:19.840 --> 00:00:21.620
in the hopes that'd you never have to deal with it again

00:00:21.920 --> 00:00:23.440
This my friends

00:00:23.440 --> 00:00:25.440
is the unfinished sewing pile

00:00:34.980 --> 00:00:38.860
The item that I'm grabbing out of the box today is actually a dress of my mums

00:00:38.860 --> 00:00:40.860
that I recently took from my parents house

00:00:40.860 --> 00:00:42.860
without my mum realizing

00:00:43.080 --> 00:00:45.280
Now I know that this dress is too short for my mum

00:00:45.280 --> 00:00:47.280
and because of that she is unable to wear it

00:00:47.500 --> 00:00:49.680
so the plan is to fix it for her

00:00:49.680 --> 00:00:52.460
and to make it longer as a Mother's Day present

00:00:52.460 --> 00:00:54.460
So the first thing that I did was to grab the fabric

00:00:54.460 --> 00:00:56.400
that I wanted to use to extend the dress.

00:00:56.400 --> 00:00:59.260
I wanted to something to match the colour and the arm hole cuffs

00:00:59.460 --> 00:01:01.620
So I found this really similar fabric

00:01:01.620 --> 00:01:03.960
A black non stretchy linen of medium weight

00:01:03.960 --> 00:01:05.960
To get the right amount of fabric for the bottom of the dress

00:01:06.040 --> 00:01:08.440
I placed this linen below the dress like this

00:01:08.440 --> 00:01:11.740
and then aligned up the top edge of the linen with the bottom of the dress

00:01:11.980 --> 00:01:13.860
I folded over the linen like this

00:01:13.860 --> 00:01:16.780
Now, I wanted to extend the dress by this amount

00:01:17.140 --> 00:01:21.140
So, I drew a rectangle onto the folded linen like this

00:01:21.480 --> 00:01:23.140
Now the length of the rectangle

00:01:23.140 --> 00:01:26.340
is doubled the desired amount that I wanted to extend it by

00:01:26.340 --> 00:01:28.540
plus one inch for the seam allowance

00:01:28.540 --> 00:01:32.240
and the width is just the same as the dress plus an inch

00:01:32.240 --> 00:01:36.080
for both seam allowance and a little extra just for insurance

00:01:36.080 --> 00:01:38.180
So I cut out this rectange

00:01:38.180 --> 00:01:40.180
cutting through both layers of fabric

00:01:40.180 --> 00:01:42.680
and now I have a rectangle of linen that's this big

00:01:42.680 --> 00:01:43.560
What I did next

00:01:43.560 --> 00:01:46.780
was to fold this linen piece in half length wise like this

00:01:47.000 --> 00:01:48.600
Then I gave it an iron

00:01:48.600 --> 00:01:51.920
and then I sewed down both ends of the strip of fabric, like this

00:01:51.920 --> 00:01:55.600
The stitching down this folded edge will make a kind of fake hem.

00:01:55.600 --> 00:01:59.780
Now, if you're thinking "Annika, why did you bother with that extra long rectangle

00:01:59.780 --> 00:02:01.780
if you were just going to fold it and make a fake hem?"

00:02:02.200 --> 00:02:03.640
Well, there's two reason's for this

00:02:04.060 --> 00:02:07.280
1 is that I wanted to make it just as thick, as the cuffs and the collar

00:02:07.280 --> 00:02:08.540
which are also two layers

00:02:08.540 --> 00:02:11.180
and 2 is that, I just hate hemming things

00:02:11.180 --> 00:02:13.000
and if i can avoid it, I will

00:02:13.000 --> 00:02:15.360
and I also think that this method looks a little bit more neat.

00:02:15.480 --> 00:02:18.620
To sew I used a straight stitch and a thread in a matching colour

00:02:18.620 --> 00:02:20.320
Then, once I'd done that

00:02:20.460 --> 00:02:22.620
I folded the piece of material in half, this way

00:02:22.620 --> 00:02:25.660
I matched up the folded edge with the side of the dress on the left side

00:02:25.660 --> 00:02:29.920
and then I made an imaginary line extending down from the right side of the dress

00:02:29.920 --> 00:02:32.700
and then I drew this line onto the black linen material

00:02:32.700 --> 00:02:34.700
and then, I sewed down this line

00:02:34.700 --> 00:02:37.840
through all four layers of material, again using a straight stitch

00:02:37.840 --> 00:02:41.940
Now, I don't want the raw edges of this piece to fray once it's attached to the dress

00:02:41.940 --> 00:02:43.980
so what I do next is going to stop them fraying

00:02:43.980 --> 00:02:47.100
Now one method to stop fraying is to use a pair of scissors like this

00:02:47.100 --> 00:02:48.240
called pinking shears

00:02:48.240 --> 00:02:50.580
and cut off the excess fabric from the raw edges

00:02:50.580 --> 00:02:53.720
You can also use a product like Fray Check on the edges

00:02:53.720 --> 00:02:58.200
or if you have an overlocker like I do, you can go over the raw edges

00:02:58.200 --> 00:03:02.420
whatever method you've used to prevent fraying, this bit can now be attached to the dress

00:03:02.420 --> 00:03:06.520
so to attach it to the dress, I lay it down underneath the dress, inside out

00:03:06.520 --> 00:03:10.460
so with that ugly seam visible, with the fake hem part at the top

00:03:10.460 --> 00:03:12.520
and the fixed up raw edges at the bottom

00:03:12.520 --> 00:03:15.620
and then I slip this on over the top of the dress, like this

00:03:17.420 --> 00:03:20.980
and I match up the bottom of the dress with the bottom of the linen material

00:03:23.860 --> 00:03:25.660
Next, I pin everything in place

00:03:25.660 --> 00:03:28.000
and then I simply sew the linen material onto the dress

00:03:28.500 --> 00:03:30.860
all the way around the hem, like this

00:03:31.200 --> 00:03:33.420
I've also set my needle, slightly to the left of centre

00:03:33.600 --> 00:03:37.260
so that I will sew past the old hem that was on the dress

00:03:37.260 --> 00:03:39.260
Then, and this is always my favourite part

00:03:39.260 --> 00:03:40.960
I unfold it and

00:03:40.960 --> 00:03:41.680
TA-DA!

00:03:41.680 --> 00:03:42.820
This is what it looks like

00:03:42.820 --> 00:03:45.380
Now, at first I thought that my sewing was really wonky

00:03:45.380 --> 00:03:48.940
because the houndstooth pattern didn't exactly align up nicely with the edge

00:03:49.140 --> 00:03:49.680
but then

00:03:49.680 --> 00:03:53.320
I realized that the houndstooth was already really wonky along hem

00:03:53.320 --> 00:03:55.600
oh well, there's nothing I can really do about that

00:03:55.600 --> 00:03:59.380
Anyway, this isn't a huge issue and you can't really tell that it's a bit wonky

00:03:59.380 --> 00:04:02.440
unless your face is like right next to the hem of the dress

00:04:02.440 --> 00:04:03.780
It looks like fine from back here

00:04:03.780 --> 00:04:05.300
so I'm going to go wrap this up

00:04:05.300 --> 00:04:07.300
and I'm going to give it to my mum for Mother's Day

00:04:08.240 --> 00:04:10.120
So I've wrapped up the present...

00:04:10.700 --> 00:04:11.980
in Christmas paper

00:04:11.980 --> 00:04:14.140
and now I'm giving it to my mum

00:04:14.140 --> 00:04:15.520
Wooh!! *giggles*

00:04:15.740 --> 00:04:17.800
Happy Mother's Day mum!

00:04:18.780 --> 00:04:21.860
Mum: Oh why thank you my darling daughter

00:04:22.180 --> 00:04:25.720
Oh Ella, why are you so excited all of a sudden?

00:04:25.720 --> 00:04:26.600
whoa

00:04:27.260 --> 00:04:29.180
Ella! Why are you going crazy?

00:04:31.340 --> 00:04:32.260
A: so excited mum

00:04:32.260 --> 00:04:33.140
Mum: Oh!

00:04:33.580 --> 00:04:35.640
Did you take this out of my wardrobe?

00:04:35.640 --> 00:04:37.140
A: *giggles* yes

00:04:38.780 --> 00:04:40.680
Mum: Ohh wow!

00:04:40.680 --> 00:04:41.460
That's excellent

00:04:41.460 --> 00:04:42.860
'cus it was a little bit short

00:04:42.980 --> 00:04:44.860
so can I try it on?

00:04:44.860 --> 00:04:45.440
A: yeah

00:04:45.440 --> 00:04:45.940
Mum: Okay

00:04:45.940 --> 00:04:46.900
A: Yes
Mum: I'll try it on

00:04:46.900 --> 00:04:48.000
In fact, you have to

00:04:48.000 --> 00:04:49.640
Mum: Okay
A: You have to try it on for the video

00:04:50.260 --> 00:04:52.600
Anyway, mum really liked the dress

00:04:52.920 --> 00:04:55.120
she just wasn't able to wear it as a dress before

00:04:55.120 --> 00:04:58.980
and as you can see, that extra length has really made a difference

00:04:59.240 --> 00:05:00.420
Happy Mother's Day mum!

00:05:00.420 --> 00:05:02.660
I also hope that this video has been helpful

00:05:02.660 --> 00:05:06.020
now you know what you need to do if you need to lengthen something that's too short

00:05:06.020 --> 00:05:06.720
and..

00:05:09.740 --> 00:05:10.960
Alright, okay

00:05:10.960 --> 00:05:12.800
okay this video is done

00:05:13.920 --> 00:05:15.980
Thank you to all of my supporters on Patreon

00:05:15.980 --> 00:05:17.980
who helped to make this video possible

00:05:17.980 --> 00:05:19.580
To become my Patreon supporter

00:05:19.580 --> 00:05:22.740
go to patreon.com/annikavictoria