For the final installment of the Winter Sports themed wardrobe series, Donna Kinley is joining us with an in-depth look at creating a lettuce-edge hemline!
My favorite thing about watching winter sports has always been the ice skating.
I imagined it would feel so wonderful to glide across the ice in those beautiful dresses. When I had the chance to try it for myself, I quickly learned that it’s not near as easy as they make it look on TV.
This week, we are going to look at making an ice skating dress with a lettuce edge hemline but this style of hem finish can be used on the hemlines of leggings, shirts, or sleeves as well. It’s pretty obvious why this frilly little hem is called a lettuce edge or lettuce-leaf edge. The curly edge is created by stretching the fabric as it is sewn, causing the edge to remain stretched while the rest of the fabric maintains the original shape.
This technique can be done with a regular sewing machine or with a serger set for a rolled edge. In this video, we’ll look at several methods to create a lettuce edge with a regular sewing machine using a zigzag stitch.
The stitch width should beset to 5 and stitch length fairly short, about a 1 or less. The curly edge is created by stretching the fabric as you sew along the edge withthe “zig” in the fabric and the “zag” off the edge. This edge can also be done using a serger set for a rolled edge hem and stretching the fabric as the edge is sewn.
Several patterns on Pixie Faire that could be used are:
The Trendy Skater skirt from123 Mulberry Street
The skater version of the IRL dress from Dollhouse Designs
The Ice Skating Dress from Sew Urban Designs
Follow along as we choose a pattern and fabrics to create our Ice Skating Dress!
Looking for more instruction on serving a rolled hem? Find that video above or here: https://www.sewingwithcinnamon.com/serger-basics
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Jane Parks
February 25, 2022
I appreciated the fact that she demonstrated different fabrics some that worked and some didn’t. Now I won’t have to bother with those that wouldn’t work. Thank you.