1. The Elsie Dress skirt is designed to hit below the knee, but depending on your height you might find it's a little too long. (It was designed with someone 5'6-5'7 in mind, ie Lisa!) So we recommend trying the dress on at this point. If the dress is a little too long, trim off the excess, bearing in mind the 3cm hem allowance.
2. Using a zigzag stitch on your sewing machine or an overlocker, finish the raw edge of the hem. Make sure the seam allowances of the side, front and back seams stay pressed open. It helps to go slowly at these points. Trim off any excess threads.
3. Then with wrong sides together, press the entire hem of the dress up by 3cm and pin.
4. Using a needle and thread, hand sew the hem in place all the way around the hem using a blind stitch. As the hem is quite long you'll need to do this in sections. (When hand sewing we recommend never using a length of thread longer than your outstretched arm.)
Be careful to only pick up one or two threads of the dress so that the stitches remain as invisible as possible on the outside.
And voila! Your Elsie Dress is finished! We demand you pop it on immediately and twirl for at least twenty minutes! Go!
We hope you've enjoyed the sewalong and love your new Elsie Dress! We'd LOVE for you to share your dresses with us on Instagram. Use the hashtag #SOIelsiedress and tag us at @sewoveritlondon. We can't wait to see your creations!