Steps 7 & 8 - McCall's 6898

Step 7 Hem
Press up 5/8" along bottom of garment.  My garment hem is straight.  If your hem is curved, begin the pressing at the side seams where the curve needs extra pressing attention.

By the way, note the interesting shape of this iron.  It is cordless and has a pointed shape at both the front and back.

Front

Back

Fold pressed edge in half and pin in place.

Stitch hem along upper fold.  I stitch on the inside of the garment which means the bobbin thread shows on the outside of the garment.  It would be better to have the spool thread on the outside of the garment, but I find stitching the hem from the right side to not be worth the trouble.

Note use of a "hump jumper" at the bulky seam intersections.  This tool costs a couple dollars.  Alternatively, use a rolled scrap of fabric to make your own jumper.

Press hem in place.

Step 8 Front Bands
Press 5/8" to inside on unnotched long edge of each Front Band.

Trim 1/4" from pressed edge.

Pin Front Band to garment front, matching notch near top of panels.  Note how Front Band extends past bottom of hemmed garment.

Stitch 5/8" from raw edges.

Press seam allowances toward band.

Grade seam allowance of garment only.

Fold band at hem, right sides together.  Pressed, folded edge should pass joining seam by 1/8" to facilitate accurate stitching in the ditch.  This is the view from the right side of the garment.

 This is the view from the inside of the garment.

Stitch across band in line with finished hem, back-tacking at start and end of seam.

Trim seam allowance to 1/4".

Fold down corner of hem allowance with your hand while turning band right side out.  Use point turned to improve Front Band hem.  Only trim folded corner if you cannot make the corner attractive without trimming.

The Front Band turned right side out.  Press only the hem of the Front Band; the fold will be pressed after additional stitching.

Pin band over band joining seam.  Band should extend 1/8" past joining seam, similar to the waistband facing final seam in Step 6.

Stitch in ditch of band/garment front seam.  Stitch from neck down to hem.

Here is the Front Band viewed from the inside of the garment.  The thread tails of the bottom could be placed on a hand sewing needle and buried in the bottom of the band to avoid small thread stubs appearing at the hem of the Front Band. 

This is the view of the Front Band from the outside of the garment.  Again, the thread tails at the hem could be manually knotted and buried with a hand sewing needle.

Be sure to stitch Front Bands to both the right and left sides of the garment.
The garment body is now complete.  Sleeve and Collar work remain.  We will do sleeve work before collar work to minimize handling of the finished neckline, however it is not an error to set the collar prior to the sleeve.