a rolled hem

Last Friday I sat down and researched how to roll a hem on fine silk. I decided that I should finish the edges of the crepe de chine scarf and not leave it languishing. There are several good websites about how to roll a silk hem, and finally, after making a mess of the first side and unpicking it, I managed to roll and stitch a 2 millimetre hem I am inordinately proud of. It took me three evenings to sew that  hem. A slow hem.

I found it therapeutic and satisfying, and after the strawberry based activities of last week, this rhyme sprang back into my mind, last spoken more than twenty years ago to my daughter, and it rolled inside my head as I stitched:-

Curly locks, curly locks, wilt thou be mine?

Thou shall’t not wash dishes nor yet feed the swine,

But sit on a cushion and sew a fine seam,

And feed upon strawberries, sugar and cream.

There has been a great deal of the last line happening in the last 3 weeks. And I have made jam. And strawberry ice cream. Making the most of a seasonal treat.

I left the pin in to hold the top layer of fabric down over the under layer whilst I photographed it. It is a beautifully sheer fabric, hiding the Moorish print , as if behind a veil. The picture below, especially if you enlarge it, illustrates the difference between the crepe de chine and the gold silk dupion cushion under the scarf. I have an endless love affair with silk.