...dressmaking class no 3

Brace yourselves, its zip week! One of the reasons I signed up to the dressmaking course is my zip fear and judging by the comments of some of my classmates I am not alone.  I am happy to report that I have now successfully inserted a zip into my dress and this how we did  it.

• We laid out back pieces and found the mark we had made to show where the bottom of the zip should sit. Because we had only taken 1cm seam allowance when we attached the neck piece we needed to adjust this.  We laid out the zip against the straight edge of the back piece with the zig zag end lined up with the top unfinished end of the neck and remarked the end of the zip.

• Sew the back seam from hem to the new mark and press the seam open.  Now with the right side facing up place the zip so that you can see where it is going to sit.  Unzip the zipper and turn it onto one side so that the fabric edge of the zip and the edge off the back seam are together- effectively the right side of the zip and the right side of the fabric are together with the back of the zip facing up to you.  Starting at the neck pin all the way down in a straight line, don't worry about the bottom or the other side at this point.

• Fit the zip foot to you machine, put the garment up to the machine as if you are ready to sew, check that you have the foot on the correct side for your zip and that when you sew at 1cm the you won't be sewing the teeth of the zip!.  Make any adjustments and when  you are happy sew a nice straight line, when you get towards the bottom where the zippy bit is go slow and careful it is quite tricky.

• Now we need to fasten the other side, pin and press the 1.5 cm seam allowance, this becomes the piece that covers the zip. Mark on the zip with tailors chalk where the neck contrast meets the main neck piece.  Unzip, line up the neck mark and pin from the top of the neck leaving a  small "flap" to cover the zip, it needs to be consistent all the way down.  Zip up and see how well the neck lines up if it is not aligned adjust until you are satisfied. 

•  Ensure that the pins are on the topside as you will be sewing with the zip underneath.  Before you start sewing, with zip side up offer up to the machine as if sewing a 1 cm seam to ensure that you won't sew into the teeth.  Place a pin at the bottom of the zip to secure it.  With the top side showing machine a 1 cm seam in a straight line down to the pin at bottom, keeping your needle in the fabric pivot and sew a couple of lines to secure the end. If you are happy with the result press.

• With the zip in the next job was to sew up the shoulder seams and press them out, remembering of course to change the foot back to the normal straight stitch one.

• Final job of the night sew up the side seams and try on the almost dress.  We decided that mine was a good fit and didn't need any adjustments.

Wow I put in a zip! Apologies for the detailed post but I just wanted to try and get down as much as I could remember to help me next time I need to sew a zip, I'm not sure if this will be of help to anyone else!