Hemming
Needle. Thread. Skirt: Timed Based Instructions & Exploring Videography
10.21.2020
What is hemming?
“A border of a cloth article doubled back and stitched down” — Merrium Webster Dictionary
Why do people hem clothes?
- The edges are seen to prevent unraveling of the fabric
- Adjust the length of garments
- Reinforce edges of the garments
- Hide the rough, fraying edges of clothes
- Improve overall appearance as the edge is flush with itself
Hemming Examples
Different Hemming Stitches
Types of Hems (Some use ironing and hem tape and sewing machines)
Types of Hemming Stiches
(Hand-stiches)
- Catch Stitch- move left to right, can see it on the inside
- Slip Stitch- move right to left, cannot see it on the outside or inside
- Blind Stitch
Good Reference Video:
youtube.com/watch?v=U1riAAPyzEc
Experimenting with Hemming
Catch-Stitch
Practiced the hemming techniques on old washed socks (did not bring lots of old clothes to campus with me) and didn’t want to work on the nice skirt yet.
Attempt 1
Attempt 2
Attempt 3
Attempt 4
Attempt 5
Takeaways:
- Measure the length of the hem and pin it down with safety pins, etc to prevent it from moving and the stitches tilting
- Keep the stitches even by bringing them all in a certain distance
- Ironing clothes helps it stay flat and makes the stitches even — I don't have an iron though unfortunately :(
- Only pick up a few strands of the front piece of clothing so that you can’t see the stitches from the reverse side
- Socks are not the most ideal piece of fabric to practice on — they're kind of thick and hairy
10.25.2020
Since I have learned about some different hemming techniques, I will now move onto hemming actual clothing and outlining steps in order to create a cohesive storyboard.
Watching Another Video: to learn how to hem pants
Identifying all the Steps:
Goal: Don’t overcomplicate but also don’t oversimplify — make it understandable for someone with no prior knowledge on the subject
- If there is a current hem on the pants, unpick it (not applicable because I’m assuming these are unhemmed pants/ cutting off the existing hem)
- Determine how long you want the hem to be (wear the pants, try to ballpark how long you aim the pant to be)- stick a pin into the spot so you will remember this length
- Flip the pants inside out
- Fold the bottom part of the pant up (the amount you want to hem)- Usually, fold up around 2 inches
- Place pins to keep the cuff from moving and use a ruler to measure its thickness all the way around to make sure it’s even (make sure it is folded up 2 inches all the way around)
- Fold one inch of the cuff inwards — to hide the fraying fabric
- Iron the cuff (optional) to make the cloth flat and easy to hem
- Place pins on the hem throughout it, to make sure it does not change measurements
- Thread the thread into the needle
- Tie a knot on the thread loop at the end of the needle
- Securing stitch: Secure the thread into the starting seam (push the thread through the cuff and into the front and back through the layers creating a loop, feed the needle into the loop, and pull to get a tight knot)
- Hemming stitch: Push the needle through the cuff then into the front single piece of pants — pick up a single thread and then push the needle back through the cuff and repeat (Make sure not to pick up too many threads or the stitches will be visible from the front)
- Repeat the hemming stitch (in my case a catch-stitch) throughout the entire circumference of the pant leg
- Secure the hemming stitch by feeding the needle through the last thread loop and pull to create a tight knot
- Repeat all these steps for the other leg (make sure the 2 inches/ thickness of hem is consistent to avoid lopsided pants)
Simplifying the steps: Making a Storyboard
Getting Started!
Instead of using socks this time, I decided to use a pair of old tights to exemplify the process more accurate to account for shape and material.
From the videos we watched in class, I observed how people used tone through color to reflect emotions and accent certain aspects to convey messages. The music also drastically impacted how I felt when I watched a video — especially the heartwarming videos with the old man getting sick. In those examples, the colors and music establish a sentimental and compassionate tone that draws the audience in, and they want to learn more about the product or concepts.
From watching the movie and tv show trailers, I saw how graphics were used to show ideas simplistically. The drastic movement in Mad Men created suspense and the few accent colors corroborated that. The red in vertigo was strong and noticeable, evoking emotions.
From watching the poorly executed how-to videos of people working with their wheel, I analyzed that we should film in a quiet place without the background noise that is distracting, clearly show what we are doing with an appropriate sized frame (especially one that shows what we are referring to) but also one that provides enough context for the viewer to understand.
Things to change based on critique:
- distracting background
- change thread color- make vibrant colors- easy to see
- clothing the model is wearing
- notation on images to show actions is good
- glare of light
- Pay attention to POV- watching someone hem or hemming yourself
- Pay attention to the beginning to the end- ends on showing hemmed pant
- Show some context- people wearing the pants
- Inside color of pants different color would make it easier to understand
10.28.2020
New Storyboard
Cutting thread
Feeding thread through needle
Tying knot to secure loop
Reversing pants inside-out
Measuring 2 inches of cuff
Folding cuff over
Measuring 1 inch and folding cuff inside
Insert safety pins to hold cuff in place
Securing Stitch
Hemming Stitch
Flip to the other side, keep hemming
Turn pants right side out
Planning out clips
- (Zoom in) Cutting thread, putting thread onto the needle, tying knot on the thread
- (Zoom Out) Reversing pants, measure and fold 2 inches up, fold 1 inch down
- (Zoom in) Starting stitch, make 2 stitches
- (Zoom in) Jump to half stitches completed
- (Zoom in) Jump to full stitching done
- (Zoom in) Jump to the other side of the cloth and last securing stitch
- (Zoom Out) Make clothes right side out, show finished product, maybe some wearing pants
Experimenting with lighting and tripod location
Laid newsprint paper on top of the desk to create a neutral (not-distracting) white background. Tried tripod on the top, bottom, left and right of the paper, to try to get a close-up frame of the sewing. Decided the tripod near my hands would provide the best first-person point of view. My dorm room has a large light which is very bright, casting numerous strong shadows from my body and hands, so the lamp is being used to balance that light (tried every angle but the shadows are still somewhat visible, unfortunately). I tried to make them as shallow as possible, tried to move the lamp farther back and angled down.
- Pulling thread, threading needle, tying thread loop
Trials:
Frame is too big, can see tripod, weird size, angle is tilting downwards, video is strangely flipped, shadows are too strong
Frame is smaller, pulling thread out of spool is out of frame, seems unbalanced, struggled to get needle through the thread, good angle to see hands and details
Thread got very tangled… oops
Good frame, everything went smoothly, but there is some background noise
Thread is out of frame, but everything else works
Little knot in loop after tying it, and realized that I forgot to change the color of the thread!
Couldn’t get the thread into the needle, wasted lots of time
- Reversing pants
- Measuring & Folding Hem
- Securing Stitch
- Hemming Stitch
11.01.2020
Planning out cohesive video
This is MUCH more difficult than I anticipated…
I was initially planning on having 5 or 6 clips as outlined above for each of the major points of the story I intended to express. This plan was horribly over-confident. Stichting my videos together, my entire video was more than 5 minutes — way over the limit. After repeatedly snipping and cutting my clips, after several hours I was able to get it down to 2 minutes. Then I realized that I didn’t need to show the entire process of every step but rather a little of the beginning and the end, to create a sense of continuity. I struggled to get it under the time limit with keeping in the different critical steps and tried to make a rough outline of the timings that I would inevitably HAVE to stick by:
- 15 seconds — cut thread off spool, feed thread onto the needle, tie knot in thread, straighten thread loop
- 15 seconds — reverse pants, measure 2 inches, fold 2 inches up, measure 1 inch, fold 1 inch inwards, attach 2 safety pins to keep the cuff in place
- 10 seconds — show securing stitch
- 15 seconds — show hemming stitch, flip pants, continue on the back
- 5 second — show that you repeat on the other leg, display finished product
I was able to mostly hit all of these target timings after eliminating several clips that were not as essential and more implied steps. However, I found a lot of flaws that I would definitely need to address in my next video…
Self- critique before Tuesday
- Some of the transitions are not the best- cut very abruptly because there is so much information
- leave some more time in between frames constant so mind isn't jumping
- zoom into the thread more, needs to be more focused
- maybe work a little faster
- perhaps show someone wearing the pants before and after to provide context
11.04.2020
Peer Review
I’m glad to hear that the video is easy to watch; however, as recommended I realized that I should add some more context to my video. I will try to show someone wearing the jeans — and them being too long, and then end with someone wearing the hemmed jeans. This is something I was actually considering while filming but didn’t know how to fit it into the limited time amount.
I understand I should increase the time of hemming — since it should theoretically be longer; I am finding this extremely difficult though because threading the needle and measuring pants also takes quite a bit of time to accurately film the steps, and I’ve already trimmed the clips as much as possible. So perhaps, I should look into cutting down the number of steps in order to do this.
I actually thought my audio was too loud when I filmed it and finished the video. I’m now concerned that when I uploaded to YouTube the audio muted, so I will definitely look into that.
It’s nice to hear that the steps are sequenced well, and people can understand how to do the process. There are definitely bits of the hemming sections that I can work on improving. I actually did include 5 clips of subsequent hemming stitches but more of the 2 crosses at each time rather than in between the crosses. Based on this feedback, I think I will have one longer clip of hemming stitch, instead of breaking it up which may appear more confusing. After the longer clip, I can skip to the end and flip the pants over. This will make it easier for the viewer to see what I’m doing and maybe I’ll also zoom into the frame a little more when filming so you can see it more in detail. I’ll definitely also look into making the noise more obvious.
I agree with the feedback of needing context which Heysu also mentioned. I’ll definitely find a way to incorporate showing the pants before and after so the viewers know what action is occurring. Ricky brings up a good point about people not being able to know until about halfway through. I think this would also resolve the issue of not demonstrating the problem and solution adequately. It actually took me 8 takes to get the thread into the needle on the first try :) so glad that paid off. I’ll work on hemming more, so I don’t fumble.
Regarding the transitions, I actually thought they were choppy- not very smooth and can see why you would want to see more/ the excerpts that were cut out. I found that difficult to do because there was just so much content I was trying to pack into the video. I really like your idea about reversing the pant legs and will implement it. I think a lot of my steps have the potential to be simplified.
10.13.2020
In-class discussion:
Things to consider:
Consistent frame: The necessity of a consistent frame depends on the process, processes like hemming may need you to zoom in in particular areas. However, consistency is preferred with processes like making origami so that it is easy to follow and not confusing.
Proper lighting: Make sure there is no glare in the corners of the table (occurred a lot with the ones with the black backgrounds). There can be too much light causing strong shadows or too little light.
Point of view: Whether you are explaining the topic to someone else or if you are doing the topic yourself, the latter is more inclusive
Audio: Some topics are harder to hear than others, such as hemming versus making a balloon dog. The squeaky noises can be uncomfortable, but without them, the video seems incomplete. In a way, the squeaky noises indicate that you are doing the process correctly and support the process. No noise at all, not even a subtle hum or background noise, can be unsettling a lot of the time.
Miscellaneous: After watching 4 origami groups, I noticed that several of them lingered on moments that weren’t as important or steps that did not need to be repeated as many times. Many had glares in the corner of their table in poor lighting and some of the objects were a little too complicated. Some of the backgrounds like wood grain could be distracting. I appreciate how Luca used two-sided paper which helped emphasize steps in his process. I liked how Gia subtly indicated her measurements with her fingers in order to appear like she was explaining the process to someone else. I didn’t realize some things like US measurements being unnecessary with the balloon dogs, and the proportions being really what matters.
Things to improve in my next video
- Have more detailed shots of hemming stitches so it is easier to understand
- Make the noises more evident by doing the actions in a more pronounced manner
- Show the reversing of pants more thoroughly
- Add context to what I am doing — add images of pants before being hemmed and after, with a person wearing it, so that viewers are able to see how the hem has changed. They will also know more about what I am doing when the video begins
- Ensure that learning the humming stitch is the primary part of the video so that it accurately reflects the hemming process. For example, the threading of the needle should not take up more than 10 seconds of the video.
Planning out shots
- Walk into frame wearing unhemmed jeans
- Show all supplies for the hemming process
- Pull thread off the spool
- Cut thread loose- satisfying scissors noise
- Reverse pants
- Mark 2 inches and 1 inch
- Fold 2 inches up
- Fold 1 inch inwards
- Attach 2 safety pins
- Securing Stitch
- Hemming stitch zoomed in
- Hemming stitch zoomed out
- Hemming stitch-flip to the other side
- Finished other side stitching, securing stitch again
- Reverse pants
- Indicate the same process done on the other pant leg
- Show both pant legs hemmed
- Walk around with hemmed pants- the final scene
Process
I learned that filming in natural light caused the paper to appear yellow and pink depending on the way the light was reflecting off the bricks outside my windows. Then I tried filming with just the light in my room, but since it is directly overhead and bright yellow, my body casts a shadow in the frame from whichever direction I try to film from. I cannot soften that light since it is too high up on the ceiling. I tried to balance the effects of that light out with my lamp, but the color of the light from my lamp is not the same color as the overhead yellow ceiling light so the paper had a strange gradient. So then I realized to control all the variables and prevent external light from casting shadows and creating gradients in my frame, I turned off the lights in my room and filmed in the dark, with only my lamp providing a uniform controlled light source.
Final Video
Final Reflections
Through conducting this project, I realized how one minute is such a short amount of time, but can actually contain a surprising amount of information. When I first started my videos, they were around 10 minutes long, and I had no clue how to cut down all these different steps into 1 minute. I realized how storyboarding helps you focus on only the most critical elements of the story you need to show to the viewer — not all of the information is useful and essential. After eliminating unnecessary steps, and trimming clips with unnecessary repetition in actions, I realized how much I was able to actually show in a minute. I also believe that planning was really important. After creating a framework of how long each action should take, it was much easier to achieve that target to get the video condensed into a minute — focusing on these important components. The first time I tried to make the video, I just jumped in, without any planning, and ended up with something that was around 3 minutes and was stuck.
As I mentioned several times earlier, I realized how important lighting was in portraying a clear picture, so the viewer can follow the actions easily. Even background ambient noise is critical in making the video seem natural. However, talking, etc in the background can be distracting. Similarly, I understand that filming on textured surfaces, or with heavy light could cause shadows — distractions deterring from the actual process. Relating to motion, I grasped that pacing was critical so that the viewer understands how the process happens in real life, as well as is able to follow along and doesn’t feel stressed or rushed; however, while it makes sense than simpler parts can be done faster. Similarly, the parts of the process that take the longest should be proportionally reflected in the video. This project allowed me to reflect and improve my videography skills, and simplify actions in a way where everyone can understand it.
