Vogue | Sew Eleanor

Embellished Invisible Zipper

While I haven’t had much time to work on my Vogue 9850 skirt, this afternoon, I was lucky enough to sew in and embellish the invisible zipper. I prefer to sew my invisible zippers in by hand, if the fashion fabric isn’t too heavy. If you would like to learn how to hand-sew in an invisible zipper, which is usually referred to as a hand-picked zipper, Laura Mae of Lilacs and Lace has a terrific tutorial here.

Prior to embellishing my hand-picked zipper, I sewed it in using the usual method. After the zipper was sewn in, I marked where I wanted my embellishment stitches to go. I decided that I wanted the stitches to be 1-cm apart and about 0.25-inches from the seam. I marked the stitch locations using a ruler and a blue disappearing ink pen.

I thought that I had a purchased a black zipper, but apparently not. The only zipper that I had turned out to be royal blue. Since the zipper was royal blue, I decided to use royal blue embroidery thread to make the embellishments. I embellished the first side of the zipper using 4-wrap French knots. I used four wraps of the thread, because I wanted the knots to be fairly large, so as to stand out from the busy pattern of the fashion fabric.

Stitching 4-Wrap French Knots

If you would like to learn how to sew French knots, Sublime Stitching has a great tutorial here.

It was really important that the French knots on both sides of the zipper line up horizontally. To make sure that the French knots on the second side of the zipper were properly aligned with the French knots on the first side of the zipper, I added pins to the blue pen marks, just to be doubly sure.

Marking The Second Row Of French Knots With Pins

After the French knot locations were marked, I sewed them along the second side of the zipper.

Sewing French Knots On The Second Side Of The Zipper

And here is the completed zipper. I still need to spray it with water to remove the blue marking pen.

Completed French Knot Embellishment of Invisible Zipper

Happy sewing to you!

Vogue 9850 Skirt Part 1

This is my next project, a Vogue 9850 skirt in Jacquard denim with a poly charmeuse lining. This pattern is no longer in print, but I have seen it on some vintage pattern sites. I have had this pattern in my filing cabinet since the ’80s and always wanted to make it. At the time I bought the pattern, I had a Ralph Lauren skirt that was very similar and loved it.

Vogue 9850 Pattern In File Folder

I like to keep all of my patterns in 1-inch accordion file folders. The envelope figures and pertinent information are glued/pasted onto the front. Then I label the folder and add a color-coded tag. The tag indicates a category (i.e., skirts, dresses, tops, pants, etc.), so that I can easily find it in my filing cabinet. In the folder, I keep the original pattern (which is traced off and not damaged), my altered pattern and any extra pattern pieces that I add (i.e., facings, sleeves, etc.) and possibly the muslin.

Laying Out Muslin For Cutting

I am using View C, which has box pleats in the front and back. To begin, I traced off the pattern and adjusted the traced off pattern to my size. Then I cut out a muslin for fitting.

After I tried on the muslin and marked my adjustments, such as the proper location of the side seams, I drafted a new pattern to be used when cutting out the fabric. Since the original pattern had only 2-inch pleats that were sewn down for only 2-inches, which looked stupid, I deepened them by adding an additional 3-inches in width and extended the sewn-down portion to 4-inches. This is much better, but I might make them even bigger the next time I sew this pattern. It would also look great if the pleats were sewn down much farther down the front and back, and then top-stitched.

Stretch Cotton Blend Denim Jacquard From Emma One Sock

The fashion fabric is a stretch denim Jacquard that I purchased from Emma One Sock. For now, you can find it here. Once it is sold out, I’m not sure that it will be restocked. It also comes in a blue colorway.

Stretch Poly Charmeuse From Vogue Fabrics

VF134-38 Spritzer Perfumery – Stretch Woven Charmeuse Conversational Print Fabric From Vogue Fabrics

The lining is a stretch polyester charmeuse that I purchased from Vogue Fabrics. You can find it here. I usually line all of my garments with silk or rayon. But, since I knew this skirt was going to go in the wash and needed to be more sturdy, I decided that this poly fabric would be okay. I didn’t draft a separate pattern for the lining. Instead, I pinned out the box pleats all the way to the hem.