Lengthen A Skirt: Letting Down Hems

Sometimes a dress is just on the edge lengthwise-long enough to be covered, but not quite long enough to be comfortable.  So many dresses these days don't really come with hems, but even a small hem can be let down to lengthen a dress. 

This is my daughter's dress. It is one of those "long enough" dresses, but she wishes it was just a little bit longer to make her feel more comfortable when sitting and bending.

It has a small hem. After measuring the hem on this dress, I determined I could lengthened it by 3/4 an inch.  That doesn't seem like a lot, but even 1/2 an inch can make the difference between "just barely" and a comfortable length.

I used a package of hem tape, which you can buy anywhere sewing supplies are sold. It is a lightweight flat lace.

Carefully unpick the old hem and press open gently.  When you iron something, use up and down motion, not forward and backward. That way you won't stretch out the item you are ironing.

You can see that I left the edge finish on the dress when I unpicked the hem. This keeps the fabric from unraveling, so leave it if possible.

Pin the lace to the right side of the bottom of the dress, matching the edge of the lace to the bottom seam of the edge finish.  This means the lace and the dress overlap about 1/4 an inch.

Now use your machine to sew along the lace, taking care not to stretch the dress fabric.

Now fold the lace and about 1/8 inch of fabric over to the wrong side and pin. If you have a hemmer on your sewing machine, stitch in place. I hemmed this dress by hand. There are many methods to hand hem, but I learned to hem by taking a small stitch through the lace edge,

then a tiny stitch through the fabric about 1/2 an inch away from the last stitch.

This leaves a kind of zig zag hem that will stretch with the dress.

When you are done, iron using a pressing cloth. You can buy a cloth from your fabric store meant for pressing or use a clean, thin, 100% cotton cloth (dish towel) like I am. A pressing cloth allows you to press without worry about scorching your fabric and creates more steam for better results.

Wet the cloth and wring out well, then place on the hem on the wrong side of the dress. Press, remembering to use an up and down motion.

It took me maybe 30 minutes to lengthen the dress.  It didn't change the look of the dress, but it will now be more comfortably modest for my daughter to wear.

Lengthening a Skirt

Have you notice that skirts styles are getting shorter again? Have you ever had a little girl that is growing up but not out, and find that her skirt is too short, but the next size up is too wide? It is really easy to lengthen almost any kind of skirt or dress.

Here is a little girl's skirt that is too short. I found some matching material--you need less than 1/2 yard.

I cut off the bottom of the dress....

... leaving a raw edge.

My skirt needs to be lengthened by 3". I will cut a strip 7" tall. That means I can fold the fabric in half and avoid having to sew a hem, and also leave room for a 1/2 seam.

A good rule of thumb is that a ruffle needs to be 1 1/2 to 2 times the distance around the skirt you are sewing it to, plus an extra inch for a 1/2 seam. My skirt is 30" around the bottom, so I will need a 61" length of fabric (30" x 2" + 1" for the seam). This will take two strips of fabric, sewn together and trimmed to 61". You now have a strip of fabric 7" high by 61" long. Sew the fabric into a circle.
Now fold the circle in half and press. You now have a circle 60" around and 3 1/2" high.

Mark the halfway point between the two side seams with a pin.
You will use this pin marking to later center the ruffle on the front and back of your skirt.

Sew two strips of basting rows, one 1/2" from the edge, the other 1/4" .

Gather, distributing evenly around the circle.

Pin to the bottom of your skirt, making sure to match centers and side seams

and sew, using 1/2" seam.

Zigzag the edges of your fabric and skirt together to keep fraying in check and

to strengthen the seam.

Trim stray threads and press seam toward skirt.

I think the lengthened skirt is

cuter than the original, don't you?

You can also lengthen "big girl" skirts. This is my 16 year old's dress that I added a straight piece of fabric to. (It may look like a skirt and top, but it is a one piece dress.)
This strip adds 6", and as you can see it isn't gathered. I think the style of this dress looks better with an ungathered addition. I used the same method: cutting a strip 13" so I could fold it in half and have a seam allowance , and 44" long, the exact measurement of the bottom of the skirt plus 1 inch for seam allowance. A dress that was 6 inches too short is now a modest length, and once again, I like the look of the added fabric. It turned a plain dress into a more interesting dress.