Saturday, December 20, 2008

More sewing fun

All I have left to do on my dress is to tack down the facings and sew on the buttons. Yay! I spent most of my time today putting in the invisible zipper.

Once the invisible zipper has been sewn into the seam, the next step is to close the seam below (and possibly above) the zipper. This is currently the part of  inserting the zipper with which I have the most trouble. Because the zipper teeth lie right on the seamline and create a bump there, it's very hard to join the seam below without going off-track or making a bump or bubble on the right side of the garment.

In the past I've just sewn the last stitch or two by hand, which makes the seam look perfect. However, I'd rather avoid hand-sewing, if possible. So today I took extra time with the invisible zipper, trying to find a way to sew this part by machine. I think I've got a technique that'll work but I want to give it a try some more before I post it.

I'm really looking forward to finishing this dress - and the pants, too. I hemmed them today and all I have left to do to finish them is to sew the waist fasteners in place. Sounds like fun, huh? :)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

When I was sewing invisible zippers, I had a special little plastic presser foot that I used. It enabled me to get right up against the zipper for those tricky seam stitches.

I don't know if that foot is still available, but you could use any presser foot that allows the needle to be on the side of the foot instead of the middle.

Hmmm... I didn't explain that very well... remind me to show you what I mean.

Love, Mom

Chantelle said...

I know exactly what you mean - I wish I had a presser foot like that!

I have a zipper foot for my machine that lets me get closer to the fabric but it doesn't get close enough.

I don't have a foot for my machine that allows the needle to be beside the foot (without any part of the foot going past the needle position) and I don't know if one would be available for my machine because it's not a very high-end machine.

I think there is a way around this problem; I'll give it a try the next time I sew an invisible zipper and if it works, I'll post my solution. Stay tuned :)

Love,
Chantelle