As for the sheer wool dress, I joined the interlined bodice pieces with regular seams. I use silk thread when sewing wool for beautiful seams that are subtle, yet very durable. Before these regular seams are joined, I had to finish all edges of the non-interlined bodice front/scarf that were to be left free with rolled hems.
Again, I used white thread in photos below for better visibility, but of course I stitched the final rolled hems with black silk thread. I made a line of stay-stitching by machine 1/4" from the raw edge where roll hemming was to be done. Following McCall's advice in Dressmaking Made Easy, published 1946, on hand rolling hems was as follows, 'Roll edges as you make stitches from right to left. Pass the needle under the rolled edge, not through it.'
In the case of this sheer which is of a gauzy grid weave, I caught one thread of the scarf and one thread at the bottom edge of the roll just above (click images for larger views):
The stitches at wrong side of scarf once they are slightly drawn to form the rolled edge:
On the right side of the scarf, the stitches are barely visible:
The center front rolled edges complete with hooks and bars sewn on the wrong side and tailor tacks mark button trim placement:
Per my previous post, when rolling the center front edges of the sheer wool scarf from the shoulder seam down to the bottom of the front opening, I used Threads technique from issue 172 (April/May 2014), pg. 62 for Design Plus Straight Fusible (superfine weight) Stay Tape. I applied it directly along the raw edge of the scarf on this edge to add stability since the scarf closes at center front with hooks, bars and is trimmed with glass buttons. Below is another rolled hem detail shot on the finished dress:
While on the subject of hems in this dress project, I turn to those of the short sleeves. Enter another Threads technique from the same article when it comes to reinforcing a sheer with self-edging. I cut a bias strip of the sheer with which to finish the hem edge of each sleeve per the suggestions given by Lyla, but I omitted use of the recommended fine, paper-backed fusible web tape. This is because I didn't think I would need the tape and I was right since the wool sheer compresses so nicely, I really acquired a nice edge in this manner. Below, the bias strip is pinned into place on the right side of the sleeve:
A good look at just how sheer this wool is had in this shot of the sleeve. Here, the bias strip is turned to the wrong side of the sleeve after the seam allowance is trimmed to 1/4":
The last demonstration regards another manner of hemming in the form of seam finishes for the skirt and skirt lining (lining shown below just below left side opening). To manage keeping seam allowances closed and very clean, I opted for a felled French seam (a.k.a. self-bound seam) in which the seams are joined with right sides together (I did so via directional sewing) and one seam allowance edge is trimmed to within 1/8" of the seam stitching. The remaining seam allowance edge is turned under and felled over the trimmed edge to be catch-stitched into place:
In the next post regarding the competition dress, I will 'map' edge-stitching the bodice lining after it is placed in the bodice.
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