I’m particularly fond of the hem band as a design detail and have made many Geranium Dresses with this easy-to-add element, so it only made sense to include it as one part of the Geranium Expansion Pack.

One way to add the hem band is to use a solid fabric, like I did here on this newborn sample by adding a teal double gauze to draw out the blues and greens in this lovely floral Liberty lawn:

Another way to incorporate the hem band is to use a coordinating fabric, like I did for this Ice Cream Birthday Dress for Clementine:

One thing to note is that the hem band definitely adds length to the skirt, so if you add it to the top-length Geranium, you won’t have a top anymore; you’ll end up with something that’s almost more dress- or tunic-like in length, like this one shown below from my collaboration with Cloud 9 back in 2013 to feature the Tsuru fabric line.

You can read more about the dresses and that project in this post: Tsuru + Geranium

(I personally love the extra drama that the length adds, but if you want to preserve the original length of the garment, it’s quite easy just to shorten the skirt pattern piece before cutting it out)

Here’s another dress from that Cloud 9 collaboration (from this post: Taking flight) with the dress-length skirt.

Finally, another option is to use the same fabric for the hem band, but turn the print sideways to produce a contrast effect, like I did for the striped dress in the bodice extension post.

Adding a hem band is so easy, and it’s even easier since we’ve taken the guess-work out of it with pattern pieces that are perfectly proportioned and designed to fit both the View A and View B skirts. I hope you’ll have fun and experiment with adding this element to the Geraniums you make!

Visit the Geranium Expansion Pack Page to see all blog posts related to this pattern, or head to the shop to purchase a Geranium Dress Expansion Pack for yourself!.

Geranium Expansion Pack: the hem band

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