Pattern: Butterick 5488 (out of print, according to the website, but I saw it recently at Joann Fabrics)
Fabric: Destination India, from Joann
Time to complete: two weekend afternoons
Here in Austin, TX, it was actually warm enough yesterday to venture out in sandals and a tank top. Sorry, northern climes!
Last time I posted, I hadn't yet had the adventure of sewing in the zipper. It was just as painful as I anticipated, but at least I got it in on the second try. I was following my Vogue Sewing Essentials book, which had me using fabric glue to baste the zipper, and tape as a stitch guide.
The problems I had was that the foot nudged against the zipper pull at the top, and I couldn't stitch past it. Sewing for Dummies recommends buying a zipper that's extra long, so that the pull is completely out of the way, and then trimming it (but I didn't read this until after I bought the zipper). On my second try, I stitched as far as I could and then just stitched the rest of it down by hand.
The other problem was with the fabric glue...it just didn't hold well enough. After I tore out my first try, I just handbasted it to the seam and that worked a million times better.
Although I'm very pleased with the way the skirt turned out, the worst problem I had was with the crappy piece of crap zipper I bought. I think it's a Coats and Clark. Once I successfuly put in the zipper, I unzipped it, and found that it splits open underneath the pull once you zip it back up. Argh! I hate this stupid zipper! Does anyone have a recommendation for a better-quality zipper?
After pulling it up and down about ten times, I got it to stay closed, but now I'm paranoid about my Victoria's Secret being on display without my knowledge. My boyfriend, though, promised to keep an eye on my zipper for me. ;-)
