hemming day

I had a great time taking photos yesterday. The photo of the handtowel was an absolute gift, with it all coming together easily and quickly. I’d borrowed some props from my sister, and with some rummaging through my own cupboards, came up with a really nice arrangement very quickly.

I wrote my instructions and did my diagrams for damp stretching yesterday, realising that I do it differently than the other instructions I read elsewhere once. It was nice to realise I have personalised my method! My differences are to do with whether you stretch it wet or dry (and then wet after). Personally, I feel that as we’re working with linen and linen is stronger when it is wet, why not do it when it is wet and take advantage of that strength?

Today will be hemming day. I have a few pieces that are all finished except for their hems. So I’ll be clearing some space on the dining room table today, and setting up the sewing machine. The corners will need to be mitred, and then I’ll probably machine sew some, and hand sew others.

Just a question: when you’re hemstitching a hem by hand, do you prefer to remove one, two or three (or more) threads? One thread removed will give you very small holes, more threads removed will give you larger holes. What do you prefer?