Replies

1. 
   Kilroy | May 27, 2009 04:27am | #1

   You have to let them hang. The bias is different all along the edge, so it needs to decide where it will stretch and settle, and then you have to measure the hem from the floor while it is on the person who will be wearing it.

1. 
   rsew | May 27, 2009 06:57am | #4

   thanks for your input also.  this is such a great place for information

2. 
   starzoe | May 27, 2009 04:46am | #2

   It is always important to make a very small hem on a circle skirt, preferably a rolled hem if the fabric is lightweight. You do need to hang it, however.

1. 
   rsew | May 27, 2009 06:56am | #3

   thanks for the input.  will certainly give it a try

3. 
   Teaf5 | May 27, 2009 07:36pm | #5

   Circle skirt hems dip and sway because of our hips, tummy, and bottom; a perfect circle will drape over a round table and hit the floor evenly, but the hem of that perfect circle skirt will hang higher or lower in different areas unless it has many crinolines to make it stand out and away from the body.If your skirt isn't crinolined, you need to be wearing it while the hem is marked from the floor up (with a yardstick and pins) by someone else. When you flatten the skirt, you'll notice that the back is much shorter, the sides much longer, and the front may be either, depending on whether you have a full tummy. But when you put it on, the hem will fall straight.Hope that helps!

1. 
   GailAnn | May 29, 2009 10:28am | #9

   That is how I was taught to always hem a skirt.  Even have a little stand that sits on the floor, attached to a measuring stick, with an arm to assure proper placement of the pins.  The little stand is probably older than I am, and the shortest a skirt can be is 14 inches from the floor.  Gail

4. 
   sew2mom | May 29, 2009 04:26am | #6

   I made a circle skirt last summer and I used a Deluxe Chalk Hem Marker from Dritz.It worked great and you can mark it by yourself or get your hubby to help.It didn't mark every where as the fabric was too voluminous,is that the word, but I just connected the marks it did leave and they didn't look at all even but when I was done trimming it was perfectly straight.Definitly one of the most useful tools I own.

1. 
   jjgg | May 29, 2009 05:23am | #7

   If you have to hem something like this yourself, with no one to mark the hem, stand next to a table, put chalk marks at the level of the table as you turn around, then you just need to measure down from that line that should be parallel to the floor. If this marked line is near the bottom of the hips, you should be well past any 'protrusions' that might take up more or less length.

1. 
   Josefly | May 29, 2009 06:14am | #8

   What a good idea. I would never have thought of marking a hem that way. Thank you.