Cutting linen for new chemise project

I have recently started a new project: to make a chemise for a friend. I am not sure if I have shared this before, but I know a great trick to make cutting linen evenly very easy.

Measure up your panels, and then carefully lift a thread at your cutting line. Cut the thread and pull it to create an even cutting line. The thread may break before you can pull the whole lot up; just find the broken end and keep pulling.

When you have finished pulling the thread out, you will have a perfectly even cutting line in your linen to follow!

This chemise will be entirely hand sewn. I am making it out of rectangles and squares. The underarm gussets are small squares, and the body panels and arm panels are large rectangles. The neckline and wrist holes will be gathered into embroidered bands.

Baroness Linet atte Falcon's Nest has kindly offered to help me by hand hemming the body panels. I have hemmed the gussets.

The hem is just the edge turned over twice and stitched down with tiny stitches. I aim to join the pieces together with a decorative insertion stitch. The neck and wrist holes will be gathered into the embroidered bands (once the bands are complete!)