Annie's Dres - Part 2

Annie came over the other night for her second fitting (first time with real dress) and the fit looks perfect. All I had left at that point, as far as construction goes, was the zipper and CB seam. In my last post I talked about the binder foot.
Well, it really made a difference on this dress.








This fabric ravels terribly, as you can see.

















Here is the before and after on the bodice/skirt seam:


















I had an idea of how I wanted to do the zipper seam allowances, but I wasn't sure how I would coordinate it with the seam finish on the lower skirt. I did sort of a flip and stitch method on the skirt, so it is like lining and underlining at the same time, but with only two layers of fabric rather than 3. It was much faster and easier than underlining. Here's how I did it.

1. lay skirt front and skirt side right sides together. Skirt side is on top.
   
2. Lay skirt side lining face up on top of stack
3. Lay skirt front lining face down on top of stack.
4. Stitch seam. Press open and flip to enclose seam allowances
   
5. Now, lay skirt front and side 2 right sides together
6. Lay skirt side 2 lining on top of skirt front lining right sides together
7. Stitch all 4 layers together. press open and flip to enclose seam allowances

You now have both side seams completely enclosed, and raw edges at the center back.

I used seam binding to bind the raw edges up to where the zipper will be installed. I knew I wanted to use seam binding full width to enclose the zipper tape and raw edges. I wasn't sure how I was going to get that to coordinate with the seam underneath.


I was looking through my book, High Fashion Sewing Secrets, and found a similar technique using ribbon. This is how it turned out. I will still handstitch the edges to the lining since the sas will ravel underneath if I don't


So, today I am hoping to finish all of the handsewing and then I will be finished!


We are going to Hawaii at the end of June, and I'd really like to get started on making some clothes for the trip. It will be hot, and most of my summer clothes from last year do not fit (yay!) Darn, I guess I'll have to get some new ones. I'm sew terrible - I was going to make a dress, skirt, and shirt from some rayon challis print that I have in my stash for the trip (and I still may), but yesterday I had to go to Fresno to see my son. Now a trip to Fresno necessitates a trip to Hankcocks! One of the (many) things that Hancocks carries, that JoAnn's does not, is rayon prints and solids. This is the perfect travel fabric for a trip to somehwere hot. It is cool, lightweight, and needs minimal ironing. I found a nice pink and brown print in a rayon crinkle fabric that I would like to make a tank dress and long skirt out of. I have some brown broadcloth already that I will make a pair of shorts and overblouse/jacket out of. The other rayon print that I have is black, blue, and brown, so the brown will go with all of that. I still have to look at JoAnns for a pink knit for a top or else order from Sewing Studio. I have plenty of other things that will coordinate with black and brown - now I need to "sew like the wind!"