I nailed it!

Sometimes the best solution to a sewing problem is to walk away from it for awhile. Having done that and busied myself with something else, allowed me to go back to the sewing room and fix the issue. 

I needed to readjust the pleats.  By doing so I was able to line up the waistline seams and to get the invisible zipper inserted correctly.  Here is a shot of this.  This was taken right after sewing the zipper so the pleat that was removed and others readjusted had not been fully pressed.

This looks a little washed out from closeness of fabric and flash.  My camera battery is not staying charged as it should.  DH says I should get a new camera; I think he is right.  This has been a good one but about 6+ years old.

This time in sewing a dress with a side invisible zipper; I sewed it my way not the way the instructions have you sew it.  I followed the pattern instructions before with the black and red dress.  The instructions for this dress were the same and it is too difficult to insert an invisible zipper using their method.  This one took a lot of time because of the bulkiness of the pleats at the side and because I could not line up the waistline seam without redoing the pleats.

Now the next step is to attached the dress lining at the neckline and I will hand stitch the lining at the zipper side plus tack it in several places at the waistline.  Sleeves will come next and then the hemming.  I had so hoped to be further along with this; sometimes that it how it goes with sewing.

New blue skirt

I am almost finished with the new blue skirt, a McCall's pattern. I am truly pleased with the fit. The front piece has tabs inserted at side seams and then are stitched to the front using buttons stitched through all layers.

I pinned down the tabs and then auditioned several navy blue buttons I had in collection. These are the buttons I decided to use.

And here is a close up:

I tried a new technique for stitching down the waist facing with the invisible back zipper. I recently read this blog post about facings. I thought I had bookmarked it; but when I got to that part of sewing my skirt I went to computer to pull it up to print it out. I could not find it. I did find this bookmark about facing and invisible zipper by Els at The Sewing Divas blog. I used Els technique on this one and it worked like a charm. I have now printed out Dawn's version and Els for future use. Both techniques yield a nice finished facing and no hand sewing!!!

Here is shot of my facing with invisible zipper. Not perfect. I stitched one side a little closer to zipper teeth than the other side. The zipper works and as noted above it is a nice finished facing.

I hand hemmed the skirt. Once buttons are stitched down, I will take shots of the finish garment.