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MN2001 Darling Ranges / Sewalongs

Tutorial | Fishtail Darling Ranges Dress

how to make a fishtail hem on the Darling Ranges pattern // tutorial on Megan Nielsen Design Diary

You guys! I am so in love with this dress!! Remember when I wore it a few weeks ago? Well, now it’s warm enough to forget about the jacket – yay!

This is absolutely, 100%, for sure, my favourite dress at the moment. I feel like it goes with everything, works for all weather (well all Perth weather hehe), and feels so glam. That sounds silly, but it does :)

As soon as I saw fishtail hems appearing everywhere (also known as “low/hi hems” or “mullet hems”), I knew the Darling Ranges dress would look amazing with one. And now that it’s come to life – I couldn’t be happier!

how to make a fishtail hem on the Darling Ranges pattern // tutorial on Megan Nielsen Design Diary

Would you like to make one too? It’s such an easy alteration to the Darling Ranges pattern. See below…

First, take a few measurements. Decide how long you want your dress in the front and back. I wanted my front skirt hem to measure 18” from the centre front and my back skirt hem to measure 30” from the centre back of my skirt.

Add seam allowances. Since it is a fishtail hem, it will have a substantial curve which makes it necessary to have a narrow hem (½ inch).  So for the skirt front, add ½ inch to 18” plus a 5/8-inch seam allowance at the waistline. For the skirt back, add ½ inch to 30” plus a 5/8-inch seam allowance at the waistline.

So the front skirt pattern piece should measure 19 ¼ inches from the center front to the hem and the back skirt pattern piece will measure 31 ¼ inches from the center back to the hem.

Now you are ready to start manipulating your pattern pieces.

Tape skirt back and skirt front pieces together temporarily at the side seam (you’ll need to turn the back piece over).

how to make a fishtail hem on the Darling Ranges pattern // tutorial on Megan Nielsen Design DiaryAdd some pattern paper to the skirt back piece and tape in place. Mark your new hem, in my case 31 ¼ inches from the centre back of the waist to the hem (on the fold/centre back side of the pattern piece).

how to make a fishtail hem on the Darling Ranges pattern // tutorial on Megan Nielsen Design DiaryOn the skirt front, measure and mark 19 ¼ inches from the centre front of the pattern piece to the hem (on the button placket side of the pattern piece).

how to make a fishtail hem on the Darling Ranges pattern // tutorial on Megan Nielsen Design Diary how to make a fishtail hem on the Darling Ranges pattern // tutorial on Megan Nielsen Design DiaryDraw a nice S curve joining these two points that you just marked. You can use a curved tool, or just freehand it like I did. Just make sure it’s nice and smooth.

This will mark your new hemline, which will be shorter in the front and longer in the back.

how to make a fishtail hem on the Darling Ranges pattern // tutorial on Megan Nielsen Design DiaryOnce you are satisfied with the new curved hem, cut the pattern piece.

how to make a fishtail hem on the Darling Ranges pattern // tutorial on Megan Nielsen Design DiaryCarefully, remove the tape holding the front and back skirt pieces together. You just completed the first step in altering the skirt pieces. The front piece is all done, and you should now have a skirt back pattern piece that looks like the above (I flipped mine back to the right side up).

We are going to use the slash and spread method to increase the fullness of the skirt back and add some flare to the skirt. This method will maintain the proportions of the skirt.

To do this, first, decide how many inches of fullness you want to add to the skirt. This will determine how many slashes to make, and how many inches to spread these slashes. I decided to make 3 slashes and spread the slashes 1” each. This will increase the fullness of the skirt by 6 inches in total (remember, the skirt is cut on the fold!).

how to make a fishtail hem on the Darling Ranges pattern // tutorial on Megan Nielsen Design DiaryDivide the waist measurement on the back skirt pattern by four, and draw three perpendicular slash lines from the waist to the hem.

how to make a fishtail hem on the Darling Ranges pattern // tutorial on Megan Nielsen Design Diary how to make a fishtail hem on the Darling Ranges pattern // tutorial on Megan Nielsen Design DiaryCut the pattern along these three lines from the hemline to the waist but don’t snip it off completely at the waist.

how to make a fishtail hem on the Darling Ranges pattern // tutorial on Megan Nielsen Design Diary how to make a fishtail hem on the Darling Ranges pattern // tutorial on Megan Nielsen Design DiarySpread the hemline of the skirt 1” at each of the three slashes and add some pattern paper. Tape in place.how to make a fishtail hem on the Darling Ranges pattern // tutorial on Megan Nielsen Design DiaryOnce you have slashed and spread the pattern, make sure the hemline is a nice curve.

That’s it! You have just completed altering your skirt pieces.

how to make a fishtail hem on the Darling Ranges pattern // tutorial on Megan Nielsen Design Diary

Cut the modified back skirt piece on the fold, and cut two of the front skirt piece.

Follow the Darling Ranges sew along to attach pockets to the skirt, complete the skirt and attach the skirt to the bodice.

Make sure the hem is even at the side seams. If necessary, use scissors to even out the side seams.

Since the hemline of the skirt is now curved, we will sew a narrow hem to neatly finish the dress hem.

how to make a fishtail hem on the Darling Ranges pattern // tutorial on Megan Nielsen Design Diary
how to make a fishtail hem on the Darling Ranges pattern // tutorial on Megan Nielsen Design Diary

Sew ¼” away from the unfinished skirt hem.

how to make a fishtail hem on the Darling Ranges pattern // tutorial on Megan Nielsen Design Diary

Press the hem upwards toward the wrong side at this stitch line.

how to make a fishtail hem on the Darling Ranges pattern // tutorial on Megan Nielsen Design Diary
how to make a fishtail hem on the Darling Ranges pattern // tutorial on Megan Nielsen Design Diary

Press the hem up once more to enclose the raw edge, and sew ¼” away from the folded edge of the hem.

how to make a fishtail hem on the Darling Ranges pattern // tutorial on Megan Nielsen Design Diary

Press and admire your handy work!

Enjoy your new Fishtail Darling Ranges Dress!

how to make a fishtail hem on the Darling Ranges pattern // tutorial on Megan Nielsen Design Diary
how to make a fishtail hem on the Darling Ranges pattern // tutorial on Megan Nielsen Design Diary

LOOKING FOR MORE TUTORIALS?

Here’s the full list of Darling Ranges tutorials:

We absolutely love seeing what you make, so don’t forget to tag your creations with #MNdarlingranges and @megannielsenpatterns if sharing on social media.


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About Author

Meg is the Founder and Creative Director of Megan Nielsen Patterns, and is constantly dreaming up ideas for new sewing patterns and ways to make your sewing journey more enjoyable! She gets really excited about design details and is always trying to add way too many variations to our patterns.

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Ginger
11 years ago

Cute variation! I love this!!

anto
11 years ago

What a pretty variation. I love this dress!

Curry Made
11 years ago

It looks fantastic on you!

Nicole
11 years ago

I love me a mullet hem, Thanks for sharing this tutorial it’s perfect for summer :-)

maddie
11 years ago

bravo and bravo! I give you a standing ovation!

You know what I like about this tutorial? Some tutorials I’ve read on creating hi-low hems suggest adding to the front, then to the back, and then to the side seam – they don’t butt the front and back patterns together to create the hi-low hem – the create the hem separately on each pattern piece. THIS IS SO BAD because it doesn’t ensure a smooth transition from CF to CB.

Oh, and did I say bravo?

djuna
djuna
11 years ago

that is a lovely variation to the dress and goes perfectly with those shoes. p.s. you often include information about your accessories but i cannot find any for those must-have shoes. x

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