I picked up a gown today for the wedding we’ll be attending next week. This is probably one of the very few floor-length dresses I’ve ever worn. Unfortunately, what that also tends to mean is that it needs to be hemmed since I am only 5’3″, and pressed for time, I need to do this myself. That’s actually not a hard job for me, though, in theory. My mom taught me how to fix simple clothing mishaps like holes, buttons, etc., and I took a sewing class when I was 12 on basic sewing, including hemming. Unfortunately, those above skills necessitate certain tools, such as an iron, ironing board, and even a sewing machine, none of which I have access to. So I did a hack hem with really basic sewing and measuring that took about 25 minutes, and it actually came out looking okay.

It’s a good thing I can come up with these things in such a short period of time and not have to go out and pay someone else to hem my dress. The estimate I got from the cleaner around the corner hurt just hearing it. The lesson learned here is that now, I need to invest in an iron and a small ironing board, even just for my small Manhattan apartment.