What Came in Yesterday's Mail

I almost never bother with zippers.  And since I hardly ever use them, I never really cared about how skillfully I put them in.  But ever since I made the girls' Butterick dresses for Daughter, I've been thinking about how much I'd like to refine my zipper installation skills.  To that end, I bought the Janome Concealed Zipper Foot to fit my Kenmore.

I also did some looking around and found some really great tutorials for installing zippers.  This one, at Kathleen Fasanella's Fashion Incubator, is by and large my favorite.  Especially since she shows how to sew the facing down without any pesky hand-stitching.

She also has info on centered zippers, lapped zippers, and zippered welt pockets.  I've had her centered zippered tutorial printed out and living on my bookshelf for years now, and if I'd had the brains God gave little green apples, I would have pulled it out when making Daughter's dresses.  Maybe then the zippers would have turned out a bit better.  You know, like maybe you wouldn't be able to see them and all.  Like it's supposed to look.

But no matter.  Because I now have my Zipper Foot.  And, like magic, that's going to make everything better.  And I do have a bunch of invisible zippers that I got in a zipper bundle from FabricMart a couple of years ago.  Those lime green ones will make great practice zippers.  :o)  I mean, seriously, can you see me in lime green?

Besides, that's not all that came in yesterday's mail.  I also bought 50 spare clear plastic bobbins for my Kenmores.  Do I need 50 spares?  Ha!  Does a duck need water?

I'm gonna go wind some bobbins now...