Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Progress on the LBD -- Invisible Zipper



Sitting down last night to work on the LBD, I discovered, to my disgust, mind you, that I had no black 22 inch zipper.  You think I would've checked that.  But I did have a whole bunch of black invisible zippers that I picked up probably because they were on sale.  And I have the Janome concealed zipper foot, still in its package, unused, neglected, and forlorn.

So, I put a concealed zipper in the LBD instead of using the instructions for a centered one.  I've put in only one other concealed zipper, but lack of experience doesn't really seem to matter.  It's a snap to put in an invisible zipper -- at least it is with the concealed zipper foot.  I'm not sure why I haven't been using them for Daughter's dresses.  It seems so sensible and they really are remarkable easy.

This is a really terrible picture, but the best I could do for now, snd I really wanted to show you how nice the zipper turned out.  I'll get the dress on the dress form and take some good pictures once I've made a little more progress -- there are some fit issues that I'll need to address before this thing is even wearable.  I didn't make a muslin, so I'm not really surprised.  I was sort of hoping that this would be one of the Buttericks that fit me like a dream right out of the envelope.  No such luck.

Only two more days to go until the contest deadline, but I think I might be able to make it.  If I can make it fit nicely, I'll be happy, even if I don't get it done in time.  But I'm take my best shot and put as much time into in the next couple of days as I can.

Today, though, I'm going to the Button Box -- an accordion store about 1 1/2 hour's drive from where I live.  I love music and musical instruments, even though I don't play any of them better than mediocre, but I really love accordions.  Especially button accordions, or melodeons as they are called in other places.  Cajun, folk, traditional, polka.  All use accordions as a major part of their sound and I love it!  Will I buy one?  Maybe a used one.  But mostly I'm going to look around and enjoy music store atmosphere.

4 comments:

  1. So glad to hear I'm not the only one who's come across the same zipper problem. Last night I was going through my zipper stash only to discover I didn't have a 22" zipper only an invisible one. I'm currently sewing Vogue 8815 peplum top. I've never sewn with an invisible zipper foot either. You've just given me the confidence to give this a try... although I don't have an invisible zipper foot but... hey I'm game to try it without now and I've pinned a couple of tutorials on it that I can check.

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  2. Oh, yes, Chris. Definitely go for it. I was amazed at how easy it was and how nicely it turned out.

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  3. This is beautiful! I am really new to sewing and I am going to begin to tackle my daughter's graduation dress (yes, I know it's December). She chose a similar pattern. Thanks for the fitting tips.

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    1. Thank you. And December is definitely not too early to start on a graduation dress. That way, you don't have that last minute oh-my-god-I-need-to-have-this-dress-done-in-three-days thing going.

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