Goodbye invisible zippers & hello handpicking!

For the first time in a long time, my internet was capped for a few days! Soooo 2001...

I was devastated, I couldn't watch new Homeland, Revenge or Gossip Girl; download Justin Bieber's song (don't laugh but I really like the song 'Beauty and a Beat' after hearing it on X Factor Au) or reply to your comments on my last post about zippers, accidentally cutting my hair and not oiling my machine.

My sewing teacher oiled my machine for me last week, and when reading my manual to see where to oil, it said "make sure to oil the machine once a week if you use it more than an hour a day"... hrm. Thoughts?

Re my paranoia about cutting of my hair and measuring tape, I'm glad you guys can relate to my fear of chopping things off accidentally. I always make sure I am at my most alert when I am cutting my seam allowances and clipping my curves. And when using my rotary cutter :) 

A lot of you guys commented and said that invisible zippers are not as strong as dress zippers but most tend to use invisible zippers. I'm the same, I like invisible zippers because they are "easier" (read: no hand sewing) to install, give a cleaner finish and hand sewing can be a ball breaker sometimes. But there's no denying they are not as strong as the old dress zipper.

I still remember last year when I wore my handmade 'cobalt' skirt to a NYE party and halfway through the festivities, my invisible zipper broke! Luckily it was still holding together at the waistband so my skirt didn't fall down. In public. OMG :(

A week later when I wore my 'burnt orange' dress out on the weekend, I packed spare clothes in my handbag incase I had a wardrobe malfunction. Mind you, the zipper on the dress was an exposed metal zipper, but I was so traumatised by what had happened on NYE, it made me question how durable my handmade garments were. It took months for me to trust my sewing again. 

Then the zipper tab broke off my 'Squiggle' dress. FFS.

I then realised it wasn't my sewing, it was those stupid Birch invisible zippers! I even had one break on me during installation. 

People have told me to use YKK zippers as they are most durable and used on most RTW clothing. So far I have had no luck finding these YKK zippers :(

Sewaholic and Cation Designs were the first blogs I followed religiously when I started reading sewing blogs. 

I am obsessed with Tasia's Simplicity 3965 dresses and love the handpicked zip on her picnic dress. 

When stalking Cindy's blog archive and drooling over her M5845 and NL6723 dresses, I always stop to admire the handpicked zip on the Hippo dress.

Now for some handpicked zipper p o r n...

Tasia's 'Picnic' dress.
(source)

Cindy's 'Hooray for Hippos' dress.
(source)

Gertie's 'Lemon Tree' dress.
(source)

So beautiful <3

I tried my first handpicked zipper when making my Mad Men dress using Tasia's very awesome tutorial.
It turned out OK for my first try. I tried it a few more times on my M6331 strapless dresses (here & here) and on one of my skirts and my 'meh' lace dress the other week.

Most recently, I handpicked a zipper on this beautiful floral dress...

Practice makes perfect, I've finally got it right. My stitches are more even and straight. Woo hoo prickstitch!

I'm so confident with my skills that I've offered to repair the zipper on my cousin's handmade dress from Paris! Only concern is my 'stitches' aren't as visible (therefore aren't as strong?) as Tasia, Cindy and Gertie's... something I'll work on next time.

I am so in love with the little 'dots' of thread peeking through the fabric. Ahh smitten.

It is much easier to control the zipper when handpicking, and easier to unpick too. I had to re-do the zipper on this dress and take it in an inch on each side - unpicking the prickstitch (on the zipper tape side) was sooo much easier than unpicking tiny stitches next to the teeth of an invisible zipper.

From now on I will handpick (most of) my zippers because it makes the dress extra special to me, hand sewing can be therapeutic, and dress zippers seem to be stronger than invisible ones.

Oh, and dress zippers are much cheaper too, and since I'll only be buying one zipper from now on, I'll be saving so much $$. More money to spend on fabric!

So ladies, have you handpicked a zipper?

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Squiggle, squiggle, squiggle, squiggle, squiggle yeah! And a quick zipper tutorial!

I sing that in the tune of LMFAO's song Sexy and I Know It when I look at this fabric... cos the fabric is 'magenta squiggle'. Naming this dress the "3am Squiggle" dress.

A skill that I learnt recently and have used on this dress is inserting an invisible zipper between the dress fabric and the lining, like how the zippers look on RTW. I have been taught that lining can be hand sewed to the dress fabric... but I do it by machine! Clean machine finish :D

My attempt at a tutorial... 

How to insert zipper in a fully lined dress!

Time to insert the invisible zipper
between the fabric and the lining.

Pin the zipper at seam allowance.
2.5cm seam allowance at the back for me.
I have a small back.

Separate the lining and the dress.
Baste zipper on the dress fabric only
(like you would on unlined dress).

Sew zipper with invisible zipper foot.
Repeat on the reverse side.

Flip the lining over so the right sides
of fabric/lining are facing eachother, pin.

Tuck the top bit of the zipper inside so you can sew it in.
Sew lining and dress fabric together close to the zip.

This is how it looks inside out.

Reverse it and voila!
Zipper is between the lining and the fabric.

Now... the finished dress and pattern review!

Do the squiggle, yeah.

I used the fabric I got from Spotlight yesterday and sunsilky lining** that I got for 1/2 price today from Lincraft.
Took 2 hours to cut, 5 hours to sew up the dress, lining, zipper and hem.

**Sunsilky lining: 100% Polyester. Permanently anti-static, treated to breath like a natural fibre.

"Techniques" (which might be normal practice for most seamstresses) that I used on this dress, which I must remember to use all the time cos I love the result so much:

• PFF (press flat first)
• Stay stitch - I always forget to do this!! I will make a mental note to remember
• Zipper inserted between the lining and dress fabric
• Twin needle hem

I'm proud to say that I did not unpick any of my seams! I made zero mistakes with this dress. This is a first! Usually when I sew late at night, I end up having to unpick at some stage, but not tonight. I started sewing at 9pm tonight and finished at 2am. I'm very nocturnal.

I'm also very happy that my front darts, side seams, and zipper all matched perfectly! The back darts were a little off, but that's ok .

Perfectly lined up darts.
M5845 front bodice.

Darts unaligned but the waist matches at the zipper.
M5845 back bodice.

The only modification I made to the pattern was lower the neck by 2" (5cm) and raise the back by 2" (5cm).
Oooh, and I added in-seam pockets!

Drafted my own in-seam pocket pattern.

Pattern Review... 

Pattern: McCall's 5845

Size: Size 6 bodice, graded to size 8 waist, size 6 skirt.

Fabric: 1.2m cotton sateen, 1m sunsilky lining

Notions: Invisible zipper (black) 16", Gutermann thread (000) 

Modifications: 

• Lowered neck by 2"
• Raised back by 2"
• Skirt pieces shortened to 18.5" (3cm hem)
• Added pockets
• Regular (1.5cm) back seam allowance
• Invisible zipper instead of dress zipper
• No vent
• Darts on the inside not outside (damn! I said I would put them outside next time I make this dress, oops).

Time: about 7 hours
Total cost: $14 (fabric, lining and zip), pattern and thread from my stash.

Here are some photos of the inside of the dress.

McCall's 5845

Finished the hems on the machine using the twin needles.

McCall's 5845

I wasn't very keen on the fabric when I saw it, but it was $5/m, so what the heck, I bought it, but I really like it now. At first glance, I thought it looked like a leopard print, but at closer inspection, it looks like blobs of spilt paint, lol. I really like it. Even if it does look like skanky leopard print, the high neck balances it out, haha.

I know I say this about every single dress after I finish making it, but I really love this one. I sewed with a lot of patience and applied techniques that I have learnt at sewing class and by reading online blogs. I guess it shows that I am improving if every new dress tops the last one.

I really like this dress cos it is fitted. It is very rare for me to fit "fitted" RTW dresses... if they fit at the bust and hips then it doesn't zip up at the waist. If it fits the waist, then its loose and yucky at the hips and bust. So glad I can customised my dress to fit my body.

McCall's 5845 (back)

McCall's 5845 (back)

McCall's 5845 with pockets.

Alrighty, off to bed for me :)

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Finished Project & Pattern Review: Vogue 8469, Floral Fantasy.

Last night I completed my floral fantasy V8469. Finally! I think it has taken about 8 classes (aka 16 hours!!). My tutor was just as eager as me to finish it so I could wear it to the Christmas party.

In last nights class, I put the zipper on, a long 55cm invisible zipper. I thought I would have issues for sure... 55cm is more than half a meter that I could potentially stuff up! Luckily, it all went swimmingly. 

The seam allowance was 1.5cm but I gave it 2cm seam allowance, as per tutor's fitting instructions. I basted the zipper with the machine and used my invisible zipper foot to stitch the zipper. 

I finished the back seams on the machine. 

Last week I already cut off the excess length (15cm). Last night I cut another 2cm off, serged, turned up 3cm to hem. This time my tutor let me finish the hem on the machine! What a luxury! "Just this once" she said. I got to use the twin needle function. Didn't even know it existed. 

Finishing the hem using twin needles.

I finished the hem line at home, hand stitched the gap in the back seam where it meets the zipper and hand stitched the facing.

I gave it a quick wash and tumble dry and iron.

Hand stitching.

I was suppose to wear this dress to my Christmas party tomorrow night, but last Sunday I made a back up dress (Black & Wine dress) so I decided to wear this dress tonight to an event at Melbourne Museum called Cross Species Wilderness Adventure for the Palate.

Pattern Review: Very Easy Vogue V8469

Size: 8

Fabric: 2.3 meters cotton sateen $41 

Notions: Invisible zip 22" (black) $5, Gutermann thread (000). 

Modifications: 

• No lining, made facings instead
• 2cm seam allowance instead of 1.5cm (back seams) 
• Skirt pieces shortened by 17cm 
• 3cm hem (instead of 3.2cm)
• Ties same length on both sides so I have options to tie at the back of front side.

V8469, Floral Fantasy.

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