How do I not mess up this beautiful dress? (sewing question)

Personally, I would hem it by hand. (One of the lessons, I believe, that the military teaches you is to never volunteer for anything.)

Polyester is tricky, I am sorry to say.

If you feel unsure don’t do it. Let her take it to a seamstress.

Uhoh. She doesn’t have time! And I don’t have to do it by hand. Can you tell me basically what tension and stuff? There isn’t really another option.

Sorry. I wouldn’t dare give any advice. Why not google one of the sewing machine sites?

Could you use Stitch Witchery tape first, then hand stitch carefully? That’s what I would do.

Here’s a tip from someone who never had a needle and thread in his hands in his life well, to be honest, when I was a small rebbel my mother sometimes asked if I could lead the thread through the needle’s eye, but that’s all: Say it needs shortened by 4 inch…, cut off one inch first, try a certain tension and thread and see how it turned out.
Not to your liking…, try another inch and use different tension and thread, etc.
Again not good?
Two tries left….be careful now :-)
Good luck with it!

@rebbel Actually that’s a brillant tip! I did that with a pair of slack I needed to wear to a wedding once…& I realized I needed a tailor!

I think it depends on what type of poly it is, example, silky, chiffon, woven (oyu already said it was not stretch. And if you are really uncomfortable id suggest just using a temporary hem tape for the party and then she can get it tailored when she has time.

I always use a blind hem stitch to hem.

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/making-machine-stitches-work-for-you.html