A skirt toile

I wanted to try out this Lekala pattern 5687 and use up one of my stash fabrics. Just a quick and dirty project without expectation that I would be able to wear this. That's why I picked the fabric in the first place - pattern matching of the curved pieces to the dotted fabric is pretty much impossible.

I have worn this skirt a few times, but I am fully aware that the pattern distribution isn't the greatest. I'm not sure how often I'll wear it in future. In the garden certainly!  Not so much where people can see it though...

This is the skirt I ended up with:

The pattern is for a high-low skirt, like this:

This style is not for me, I didn't like the way it looked on me. The pattern website made the high-low contrast look quite minimal, that's not what the design is like.

How did I like the pattern?
I love the jigsaw puzzle element of this pattern, I think this could give a really interesting effect with unicoloured fabric and top-stitched pieces.  Not sure if you could stash-bust more easily because the smaller pieces could be cut out of odd shapes if you use remnants.

I didn't realise that these pieces would assemble a flat front and flat back piece. I expected this to make some kind of bell shape and was disappointed when it didn't.  I wonder if I could draft something like that?  Doing this with curved pieces would be tricky.  But that's a thought for another day.

If I had looked at the paper pattern pieces a bit closer I might have realised how much higher the front is in contrast with the back. I don't like this style, and feel it looks really dated.

If I make this again I am going to redraft the front to be longer, and suppress the low hem at the back to make both pieces the same length - and longer than my skirt when I chopped it off across.

It was a good project because I could figure out what the pattern is like "in real" and I used up the stash fabric that I didn't know what else to do with. That's a win-win in my book.

What have you sewn that turned out rather differently than you expected?  Do you have a garment that's very much of its time style-wise, did you change it in any way?  Please let us know in the comments!

Please contribute: tips for sewing a simple skirt

Shall we do a collaborative blog post?  All about tips for sewing beginners about sewing a skirt.

At our monthly meetings we often get the question from sewing beginners: "I would like to sew but I never have before and I don't know where to start".  We have lots of advice and tips so how about collecting it all in one place?  Like right here!

We often recommend that a beginner sew a simple skirt first. There isn't quite as much going in terms of different elements that a dress or trousers would demand (getting sleeves to fit into the armhole, or doing a front zip on trousers).

First tip: when you want to use a stretch fabric and you have never sewn before then pick a firm jersey fabric that is a bit thicker than the cheaper jerseys that are very saggy and extremely difficult to sew with. Sewing with thin jersey fabric is something that I still can't do. Avoid it if you want to retain your sanity. Honestly.

Woven fabrics are much easier to sew with (as far as I'm concerned), but because they don't stretch they need to be fitted to your shape to look good.

There are different skirt styles with different degrees of difficulty. A gathered skirt made from two rectangular pieces is the easiest, - circular skirts and skirts made from flared panels are also relatively simple.

The more pieces your pattern has the more sewing you'll do, but you also get more opportunity to fit the garment to your shape because you have more seamlines you can adjust.

Sewing in a zip isn't as difficult as I feared when I was a beginner but you may want to go with a button closure on a first project. See how you feel.

A commercial pattern is useful because it has instructions: not just how to sew but there is also the layout of the pieces for cutting out, and it tells you which piece to interline. There is also really useful guidance on seam allowances and how to do the different ways of stitching (like top or edge stitching, under stitching, stay stitching, or how to stitch for gathering - all kinds of information).

The sewing pattern size is not the same as your dress size in shops. Measure your waist and hips and compare to the measurement table on your pattern. Most pattern envelopes have multiple sizes in them, often split by the smaller and the bigger sizes.

Above all pick a skirt shape that you are excited about! I often make the mistake of falling in love with the pretty fabric they used and forget to check the line drawing to see if I actually like the style. Which is kind of important.

Now I've gone on much longer than I meant to. I haven't even said much about sewing itself (the things we discover as we go along) - I hope that other Dressmakers Club members want to give tips and advice in the comments!

A stash-busting skirt

My most recent project is this skirt out of two fabrics:

 

I had a little bit of the grey pin stripe, just about 25cm of it or so, and about a half metre of the dark red fabric.  No idea what to do with either, the jacket didn't materialise that might have offered an opportunity for the pin stripe to become cuffs, nor was I happy to have a very short mini skirt out of the red material.

Then I realised I had the same width in both fabrics (150cm wide) and they were the same material (wool) and weight!  Wahey, if that wasn't meant to be...

 

 
So I sewed both of 'em together and then treated it as one piece of fabric with an obvious line in it that I had to match between all three pieces: front (cut on the fold) and the two back pieces.

I drafted my darts in the back pieces and sewed those up, coming to a nice shallow point (I like to stitch along the edge of the fold for the last 3-4 stitches or so, with as few fabric threads till the folded edge as you can without sewing off the fabric.  Here's a post on darts that I prepared earlier!).

I didn't use a ready made pattern (I went to my trusty body block from Wendy's pattern drafting course at her MIY Studio in Brighton) so I couldn't follow instructions.  I just went with what made the most sense to me.

I got into a bit of a mess with the lining at some point, but it all ended well eventually. I put a lapped zip in first, then closed the side seams, attached the lining at the top edge at the waist and later sewed the lining edges to the zip on the inside.

It had taken quite a bit of time to get to that stage - but I finally tried on the skirt once I could.  I had a bit of a shock: the panel of the grey colour sits much higher on my hips that I had fondly imagined.  I was really disappointed actually because it just looked... odd...

It was neither a panel, nor a yoke, but just a nothing sort of thing. I did not like the proportion between the two blocks of colour at all.

I had so looked forward to trying the skirt on and getting it all done, and it looks like... Something not at all to my liking.  I felt quite disheartened and upset.

Then I thought: what about a fix that pulls the eye down from that line between the two fabrics?  How about a plain black ribbon at the point where I would have wanted the seamline to be?

Well!

I think it looks pretty good even if I'm a bit prejudiced. I think this did the trick. I am really quite happy with it now.

Here's a close-up:
 

 

 
I think I did quite well in matching up the ribbon ends "across" the lapped zip. Needed only a bit of hand-stitching (and some swearing when I stuck the needle into my finger... We won't mention that)

I wasn't completely happy with my first attempt at the hem. I had only folded it over and stitched it down.  My sewing thread didn't match all that well and the hem looked all puckered despite copious bouts of pressing with lots and lots of steam. It just flipping wouldn't lie flat! Argh.

I wasn't happy so I did a blind hem by hand (I was sitting around with a crafts group on the Sunday afternoon just gone, and it got all done as if it was sewing itself)...

And now I have a much nicer seam:

I suppose I should attach a tab at the top of the zip for a hook and eye or something, but I can't be bothered.  Besides, that V shape looks quite interesting and I think I'll just leave it like it is.

What do you think?

And what kinds of sewing challenges have you encountered?  Please comment below - I changed the settings so it is now easier to leave a comment.

Thank you!

The Tale of a Fishtail

Another pattern from Wendy Ward's Beginner's Guide to Dressmaking, the Fishtail Skirt.

First of all, from the photographs in Wendy's book, this is how it should look, shown in different fabrics, to encourage you to come up with your own  interpretation.

This skirt interested me as soon as I saw the photographs- an ordinary looking skirt from the front but with a quirky surprise from the side and back.  I envisaged myself swishing stylishly across a room and that fishtail adding much needed "omph" to my derriere.  The fantasies we have!  And it was for beginners so it must be simple- right?!
I really wanted midnight blue satin backed crepe so that the matt crepe formed the main body of the skirt and the sheen of the satin showed on the fishtail.  I thought, maybe, of adding something sparkly, such as scattered hand-sewn beads or glittery thin swirls of thread, to the inner fishtail.   Could I find midnight blue?- no, though I tried shops in Sussex, London and Devon.  I came across some lovely colours, subtle greens, pearly greys and lavenders, forget-me-not blue, and I thought that many of them appeared to have less weight to them than I deemed  appropriate although, in retrospect, these may have been more suitable.  In the end, with time running out as I wanted to wear it to a specific party, I settled for a black that I came across at an exhibition at Excel and, at only £4 a metre, it was good value.  I must try and check out the shop from which it came at some point, Stitch of Wanstead at 10 Woodbine Place, E11.  Anybody been there?  I bought 2 metres, the amount suggested in Wendy's book, BUT forgot that I wanted to make it longer than the the stated length- more of that later.
I traced out the pattern using greaseproof paper as usual.  Although the bust measurement for size 1 in Wendy's book is almost exactly the same as mine, the waist and hips are much bigger  so I calculated the amount by which I needed to reduce the size, divided this by four and took that amount off all the way down on the side seam for the front and for the back of the pattern piece.  I also extended the length as I wished.
Due to my droopy flat backside I always have to make an adjustment on skirts and trousers by taking a slice out from the back of a pattern.  This I do by taking a tuck from the centre back of the pattern above hip level graduating to nothing by the time the tuck reaches the side seams.  With patterns with centre back seams it is very easy as I just draw a line at the relevant level, cut along the line and then move the bottom part of the pattern up over the top until I have taken out the amount I want.  I hope you can see the horizontal adjustment in this photo ( the vertical line is just from sticking the greaseproof paper together to make it wide enough to trace the pattern).

 Cutting Out Then I laid my pattern pieces out on the fabric to pin and cut out and realised my first mistake.  The length I had bought did not allow for the extra length I wanted so I had not got enough fabric to cut out the front of the skirt on the fold so that the front was all in one piece.  I would have to cut it in two pieces with an allowance to make a seam up the front of the skirt.  I did not want a seam up the front of the skirt and cursed my stupidity in forgetting to allow more for the extra length  ***!!
Luckily an idea suddenly struck me- why not make it a feature?  I remembered an article Wendy wrote in the Sewing World Magazine about Decorative Seams.  At first I thought I would try a Slot Seam where a contrast colour of cloth is stitched underneath  the line where a seam would go to hold the two main pieces of fabric together and allowed a subtle glimpse of the contrast but I found nothing suitable in colour or weight, even among my boxes of stashed fabric, to use as a contrast.  However  Brainwave No. 1 came- insert a wider strip of the satin side of the fabric in the centre front to reference the fishtail at the back.  So I cut a strip 3 cm wide, plus an allowance for the seams to sew it to each side of the skirt front, to go down the centre front.  I was so pleased with the effect that I was glad that I had made the mistake.  Besides, by cutting it this way I was left with quite a bit of spare fabric, enough, I think, to make a top. 
Making Up The book has clear step-by-step instructions - I just didn't follow them exactly.  Here is what I should have done ( abbreviation of the much fuller instructions in italics) and what I actually did.
Step 1.  Neaten the seam allowances. -  I didn't do this until I had sewn the seams as I thought that I might need to make alterations to the amount of seam allowance when it came to fitting and I wanted to trim the allowance to an appropriate amount once the seam was sewn.
Step 2 & 3 .  Iron fusible interfacing to the front and back skirt facing and join the facings at the right side seam - I didn't even trace the pattern for the facings from the pattern sheet, again because I might make alterations to the fit.  My intention was to rub off a facing pattern after making any necessary alterations to the skirt.
Step 4.  Patch Pocket - Not applicable as not adding a pocket to the front of the skirt.
Step 5 & 6.  Joining upper centre back seam and slashing to pivot point - Done as instructed.
Step 7.  Insert zip into left hand side seam - I can't bring myself to put a centred zip into a side seam so I did a lapped zip, especially as I was doing this on a Sunday (Shops shut) and I realised I had not purchased a black zip for the skirt therefore I had to use an available purple one.
Step 8. Tack right seam and try on.  Adjust this seam by amount required for fit before machining. - OH dear, the skirt was too big at the waist, I must have gone wrong in calculating the measurements.  Adjusting it on the right side only, as instructed, would mean that my satin strip would be skewed off centre and, additionally, the grainline would no longer fall down the centre front of the skirt.  To adjust it equally on both side seams would mean having to unpick the zip and the side seam; this I was loathe to do, especially as I was working to a deadline.  I tried inserting darts, just tacked to try it out, but they looked dreadful and interfered with the drape of the skirt.  Then Brainwave No 2 came - I took a tuck all the way down each side of the central  and top stitched it.  I thought this looked even better than the plain strip(see photo below).

Step 9.  Hem using bias binding.- I didn't do any hemming  until I had completed step 10 and I didn't use bias binding.  I did a very narrow hem by hand on the main body of the skirt and a narrow machine-stitched hem on the fishtail.
Step 10.  Close the lower centre back seam. - This I did but left a small amount at the bottom unstitched to turn up the hem.  Below I am marking out the seam before stitching.

Step 11 & 12.  Topstitch the upper 3 cm of the upper centre back seam to the inner back seam. - I did as instructed but  a diagram with the text (Figure 8 in the book), that seemed to me to indicate that I should see a seam allowance showing on the outside of the inner part of the skirt back, puzzled me for a while as I thought that, as mine did not look like that, I must have  interpreted the previous instructions incorrectly at some point.
Steps 13 to 15.  Concerning the facings.- entirely ignored.  It seemed to me that the outline of the bottom of the facing would be likely to show through when worn due to the drape and fit of the skirt (a Visible Facing Line instead of a VPL) and also, as the weight of the fishtail made the back of the skirt drag down that facings would not give enough support to prevent this dragging down.  Thus I decided to put on a waistband, which I did with the satin side of the fabric out ( see the photo above).  I liked this effect even more than having facings BUT, since I don't like my waistbands skin tight as my waist definitely expands with eating and drinking each day, there was still not enough "grip" around the waist to prevent the fishtail pulling the back down.  Even though I had managed to finish it on the very day of the evening occasion to which I had planned to wear it, I was too unhappy about that drag to wear it.   Lesson- always have a Plan B- and that's where Brainwave No 3 came in but that's another story.
Trying to Right Wrongs.  Thus the skirt was abandoned until the New Year.  I took it along to the first LDC meeting of 2015, along with other makings,  for advice but no-one came up with answer for this problem.  A few days later- gosh, my brain has been working overtime!- a possible solution came to me.  I tried it out with some elastic that I had and some pins and it seemed to work.  When I had time to tacke it again I bought some strong black elastic, which luckily came in a width just slightly smaller than the satin waistband.  I made a rough belt out of this to fit my waist with the elastic slightly stretched by sewing fabric tabs on both ends of the elastic and fastening it with 2 hooks and eyes.  I sewed the middle of the back of this belt into the inside of the middle of the back of the waist band by hand so that the stitching does not show through on the outer side.  The belt fastens at he middle of the front of the skirt and I then fasten the skirt waistband over it.

The elastic belt grips me and helps hold up the fishtail but still allows room for me to expand. I've subsequently worn the skirt all day, on to dinner and then the opera as it lends itself to dressing up or down  But the back still drags a bit.  I'm thinking of putting in some cased boning at the upper centre back to see if that would work.  Perhaps I was wrong about not using facings and the dragging would not occur if I had stuck to facings.  Perhaps the problem would not have existed if I had gone for a lighter weight fabric.  If you have any thoughts about what I should do or have done please put your comment below.
So here's the finished product anyway.

And don't you think it looks great with the Zip Jacket I made earlier also from a pattern in Wendy's book blogged here  ?

How to ... turn a weekend project into a week's project

Saturday, the weather forecast mentions heavy and thundery rain, hail and frequent lightning. My plans were cancelled, not due to the weather, so I had all possibilities at my fingertips, as long as it didn't include wandering outside. My eyes looked at my famous Ikea bag with fabric, went over to my desk with my sewing machine and my brain remembered the sew-along "A simple item from stash fabric" which was about to start. Still lying in my bed, my weaker self started to nag about closing the eyes and get more rest, but my fingers were already infected with the sewing bug and it finally got hold of the rest of my body, wanting to finish the skirt over the weekend.

I found a white polycotton with red polka dots which I wanted to use as the skirt part of a dress. Since I don't yet have a dress pattern, I work with body blocks rather than with commercial patterns, that fabric had to wait ... or not. I could just turn it into a circle skirt and wear it on a lovely summer day. I decided for the latter and, instead of inserting a zipper or using elastic band, I decided to use some of my buttons. It also helped that I found a similar fabric here.

The fabric itself is rather see-through, so I decided for an underlined skirt and used some of the white polycotton I bought a while ago. I used the half circle skirt pattern which Barbara helped me to make, and cut the pieces. For the back piece, I just traced the pattern onto my fabric. For the front pieces though, I folded the pattern in half, traced it and added some extra fabric for the buttons and button holes, respectively. The width of that extra fabric is the width of the buttons I used, in this case 2 cm. (More explanations on how to add a button front closure can be found here - although that tutorial is for a dress.)

My folded blue half circle skirt pattern on the fabric I want to use, the buttons are next to it. 

I then sewed together my red polka dot fabric with my white underlining, wrong sides up, just a straight line along the edge where the buttons and buttonholes will be, zigzagged it and then trimmed it. Ironing is essential, so I ironed it, flipped it over and sewed another straight line, just for effect than for anything else, two cm (my button width) from the edge. If you want to, you could add another layer of fabric or underlining for the part where the button holes will be. But since my skirt is already underlined, I decided against it.

The front layer

It turned one pm, and the weather forecast was slightly wrong. It rained a few hours, no sign of hail or thunder and then the sun was visible. Quickly sewing the back piece to the two front pieces, and all which was left were buttons, buttonholes and hems. But first it was time for socialising!

Sunday morning, and this is how you turn a weekend project into a week's project: I realised that my back piece is wrong side up, so I had to rip the side seams apart and start again. Important note to myself: You must never rush things! I spend most of Sunday evening to undo the wrong I did to my skirt. And I did the hems.

After I found my motivation the week after, and a very useful hint to start with the button holes from my fellow seamstresses at a monthly meeting, I did the button holes. And forgot to take a picture. But basically, I marked where the top and bottom button hole would be. I then put a mark on exactly half the way down and made this the centre of another button hole. I repeated that until I had no more space on my fabric and marked 9 button holes. After sewing all of them and ripping them open, I marked the middle of each button hole on the other skirt front to know where my buttons should be.

Et voila:

How to ... improvise a skirt

When I just started dressmaking, I could only justify to buy remnants. So I ended up with a lot of beautiful fabric, unsure of what to do with them. One of the remnants is a turquoise polycotton with yellow polka dots, about 130 x 115 cm. Perfect for a half circle skirt, or so I thought. It turned out that my skirt will be somewhere closer to a 3/8 skirt.

I started with the pattern Barbara helped me to make. I drew the circles, one for the waist and one for the hem. Since I did not have enough fabric, the one for the lower hem - of course - did not fit onto the fabric. My idea was to place the pattern right in the middle of the fabric so that the pattern could be easily altered. I can't stress enough how important it is that nothing from the waist circle must be cut off since that's the only part of a circle skirt which has to be fitted. I then connected the outer waist circle with the most outer point of the hem circle and made sure I left enough for the seam allowance. It should be a straight line.

I then stitched together the side seams and tried it on. It fits perfectly and I was so enthusiastic that I cut the fabric along the side seam. In my enthusiasm, I only forgot that I wanted to insert a zipper on one side and hence did not leave enough fabric to actually be able to do it. It was a big mistake (first time ever!) and I hope I learned for the future. After the shock, I decided to make my skirt a little bit shorter and put in an elastic band.

An unexpected hint from a friend to add pockets as they are quite handy to have lead to me finding this post with the "top 10" of pockets. It has a lot of ideas and is a very interesting read with a lot of links. For this fabric, I decided for in-seam pockets. I found this post clearer than the others but it's definitely worthwhile to read through the other posts as well. Since it is very well explained how you can add pockets in those blog posts, I take the shortcut and ask to read those if interested.

Once finished the pockets (I had to do them twice) the only thing left was the waist hem and the elastic band. I went for the most simple of options, zigzagged the edge and folded it over once to insert an elastic band.

Et voila:

Sew a Skirt and Show it off

This is the story of my effort for this London Dressmakers Club event.  I’ve included some hints that I think may be useful to beginners.

 To look at the contestants in “The Great British Sewing Bee” one could be forgiven for thinking that you just grab your fabric and start cutting out.  In real life you need to prepare your fabric first.  I am assuming that your material is washable so wash it to get rid of any shrinkage, to test if it “bleeds”  (in which case launder it separately from other garments in the future)  and to get rid of any “dressing” that might have stiffened the fabric and be concealing its true drape and handle.  Then iron the fabric so it is smooth and any creases eliminated.  I also iron my pattern on a low setting to make sure that this also has no creases or wrinkles.

Then check if your fabric has a nap (see glossary -link at right hand side of blog), a one way design or a pattern to match up at the seams or centre.  If you have been watching “Sewing Bee” you will know how important this is in getting a professional looking finish and it will determine how you lay out your garment pattern pieces before cutting.

You also need to check that your grain (see glossary) is straight as many pattern pieces have to be placed in a particular way in relation to the grain line.  The grain line of the warp (the threads that extend lengthwise on the loom and across which the weft is woven) is almost always the strongest thread and the one most commonly used.  Unfortunately sometimes the design on the fabric turns out to have been printed slightly off the grain- in which case you probably need to go with the line of the design.  Now you can start laying your garment pattern on the cloth.  Play around with the layout as you sometimes find that the layout included in the garment making up instructions is not the most economical in terms of the amount of fabric required.  This is why I had enough jersey fabric left over from making another garment to make this skirt.

You can see how old this pattern is from those huge shoulders of the jacket.  Notwithstanding the length of time this pattern has been lurking in my pattern box, I had not made the skirt before despite my good intentions. 

I trace my original paper patterns on to greaseproof paper because then I can easily mark out any alterations and, by not cutting the original, also preserve other sizes if it is a multi-size pattern.  

I know that my problems in fitting skirts are due to my flat buttocks and back, causing the skirt to drop at the back and the side seams to swing forward towards the front of the garment unless I make alterations.  To counteract this figure fault I took a tuck down the length of the skirt from the waist to the hem and redrew the back dart.  I also lowered the back waist seam grading it from its lowest point at  the centre up to the side seam.  You can see these alterations in the photograph below.

The pocket linings were cut from a lighter weight woven fabric to reduce the overall bulk of the pockets and to give more stability to the pockets that might otherwise have stretched if they were made solely of jersey.  Also I wanted a "secret" flash of colour somewhere as the actual skirt is very sombre.  It's nice to know you have a secret even if it is only a coloured pocket.

The next step, after cutting out, was to tack the darts and pin for fitting.  The front of the skirt has a pleat either side of the centre and this is just tacked in place, the tacking to be removed once the waist band is stitched on as this band then holds the pleats in place.   At the centre back of the skirt I had included a 2 cm seam allowance a) because I was going to fit a zip and I always allow more  for a seam where I am putting a zip  and b) because the pattern does not have an extension for the kick pleat at the back of the skirt but just folds the seam allowance back so I wanted a bit more.

Amazingly it seemed a reasonable fit at first try on and all I would need to do would be to take in a small amount from the waist to the hip when sewing the side seams.

After sewing the back darts I inserted an invisible zip.   I've been asked before what is the difference between an invisible and a standard dress zip so here's some identification help for next time you are rummaging through the bargain zips on a haberdashery stall.  In the photos below the grey zip is the standard dress zip and the black one is the invisible zip.  This is how the zips look when you are looking at the side of the zip that will be facing outward on the garment.  With the black zip the teeth are, well, invisible.  Note also the typical  teardrop shape of the zip tab.

  

Here are the same zips on the reverse side, the side you will see on the inside of the garment. Now it is the standard dress zip that has no visible teeth.  You will know from looking at the zip slider tab which side is the front and which the back of the zip.

 Invisible zips mean that no stitching will show on the outside of the garment but they still need to be put in carefully.  There are demonstrations on YouTube of putting in invisible zips with an ordinary zip foot but it is so much easier with a dedicated invisible zip foot.  Mine cost £15 and was definitely worth it. 

This is the way I tackle an invisible zip, there are other methods so find what gets the best result for you.  The zip is put in before sewing up the back seam.  You need a zip longer by 3 or 4 cm than the actual opening, the end of my opening is marked by the pin in the photograph below. 

Before you start inserting the zip very carefully press along the zip tape to flatten out the fold next to the zip teeth.  I say carefully because you do not want to damage the zip teeth.  Using the longest stitch on your sewing machine tack up the seam along the seam allowance  from the waist to a few centimetres beyond the point where the end of the zip reaches.  Press the seam.Lay the zip in position face down on the seam with the zip teeth centred over the seam.  Pin and then tack the zip in position tacking the zip only to the seam allowance and not through 2 layers of fabric ( that is, not through both the seam allowance and the outer fabric).  In the photo below one side of the zip is still pinned and the other side is tacked.  I've turned the seam so you can see that the tack only goes into the seam allowance and not into the back of the skirt.

Below is the zip tacked in on both sides.

Now unpick the machine basting that you did to close the seam (stitch ripper to the fore!) as far as the end of the skirt opening  so that you can open the zip and flatten out the fabric so that the seam allowance is no longer folded under.  I should have taken pictures but my battery ran out.  The seam on the right hand side  will be sewn first.  Place your invisible zip foot so that the right hand groove of the foot  straddles the zip teeth and you will be stitching on the left hand side of the teeth from the waist downwards as far as you can go until the zip slider stops you from going any further.  Fasten off.  Then you do the same for the other side but with the left hand side of the groove of the zip foot straddling the zip teeth and the stitching to the right hand side of the teeth.  This latter is the side shown in the photograph below.

In order to complete the seam down to the hem you need to fold the zip up out of the way as in the photo below.  It is easiest to use a normal zipper foot to sew this seam so you can get as close as possible to the base of the zip but I used a standard straight stitch foot.  You should have a few machine tacking stitches that you did not unpick left in the seam below the end of the skirt opening.  Use these as your guide as to where to place your foot to start sewing the rest of the seam and thus it will line up perfectly with the zip opening.   You may be able to see the line of tacking stitches that I am following exactly in the photo below but I stitched in black when tacking so they are hard to see.

And here is how your inserted zip will look  from the right side - Invisible except for the zipper slider tab!

 Then I only needed to sew the front part of the skirt, by creating and attaching the pockets that formed part of the front yoke, and sewing up the side seams.  I made a lining by pinning the patterns for the  pocket yokes and front of skirt together and cutting it in one piece.  The back lining I cut as the skirt back pattern but, instead of sewing the darts, I just made the relevant sized tuck at the waist and pressed them the opposite way to the darts in the outer fabric; this reduces bulk at the waist line and allows some ease in the lining.  See the tuck in the photograph below with the waistband in position.  I was a bit disappointed in the quality of this lining that I had bought cheaply in a rush.  I hope it lasts.

Finally I sewed on a skirt hook and bar fastening and completed the skirt and lining hems.   Result- a skirt made of left over fabric in a pattern I had been meaning to use for some time.  It is rather a boring skirt really but will be very useful as it goes with the black and the grey jackets and many of the tops and jumpers that I already have.  I love having pockets, it is a good fit and the fabric doesn't crease.  I like it so much that I am sure I will make it in another fabric, something a bit more exciting maybe.  I've just realised that I haven't got a photo of the finished article so I'll take one in a day or so and post it on the London Dressmakers Meetup site under the photos for the "Sew a Skirt" event.  You can get to the site from the link on the left hand side of this blog.

Happy Sewing, Barbara