Civil War Faced Hems with Calimanco
Calimanco the cat, that is!
I'm taking a side trip to the Civil War before getting back to the 17th century project. Many skirts from this period are faced with polished cotton and then have a wool hem tape applied, either binding the hem or just placed against the edge as I did. Here's a skirt with the hem applied as I did it.
I made my facing from plain cotton because I'm on a time crunch (event is in two weeks!) and didn't have time to order polished cotton. Hem facings protect the dress fabric and the wool hem tape further protects the very edge of the skirt from scraping against the ground. It's a lot of extra work, but it adds not only authenticity but a lovely weight to the hem of the skirt.
I spread out the skirt on the ground, and of course Calimanco had to lay on it. She loves silk...
I'm taking a side trip to the Civil War before getting back to the 17th century project. Many skirts from this period are faced with polished cotton and then have a wool hem tape applied, either binding the hem or just placed against the edge as I did. Here's a skirt with the hem applied as I did it.
I made my facing from plain cotton because I'm on a time crunch (event is in two weeks!) and didn't have time to order polished cotton. Hem facings protect the dress fabric and the wool hem tape further protects the very edge of the skirt from scraping against the ground. It's a lot of extra work, but it adds not only authenticity but a lovely weight to the hem of the skirt.
I spread out the skirt on the ground, and of course Calimanco had to lay on it. She loves silk...