Navy linen outfit

Forging ahead. But first, I had a question on an old post about sewing skirt linings to the zipper tape. On the recent linen skirt and on the one I am making now, I will hand sew the lining to the zipper tape.

This is not complicated and in fact, it is easier except for the time it takes, than machine sewing. I like machine sewing because it never lets go. Sometimes, in my hand sewing the original knot will come undone or something and then I have to re-stitch. But you don't see the stitching from the outside and it is more elegant.

When I machine sew my lining down, I pin it from the wrong side and then sew it from the outside, running the line of stitching down the original line where the zipper was sewed in the first place. You can see this on the outside of this peach skirt - the two lines of stitching, one on top of the other. The trouble I run into with machine sewing is that sometimes I miss catching the lining on the inside and then I have to either sew it a third time or do it by hand.

On this navy skirt and the previous linen skirt, the pattern called for the use of grosgrain ribbon at the top instead of a facing. I also decided to line the skirt which is a simple enough thing to do.

Once the ribbon is sewn on, you just trim the seam and fold it over and tuck in the raw end of the ribbon by the zipper. I haven't worn the linen skirt yet so I don't know if the ribbon might feel uncomfortable at the top, especially as this is a high-waisted skirt but since it is high-waisted, I plan to tuck in whatever shirt I am wearing so I hope it won't be an issue.

I decided to set the sleeve in first, before I sewed up the underarm seam, because it is generally a little easier to get it in flat that way.

Then I trim the seam and sew on the double fold bias tape to finish it (since there isn't a lining with this jacket). I am using purchased tape because it is easier to let some machine in a factory make it uniform and nicely folded. But they only had one package of navy when I bought it and I think I will have to go back for a second package because, now that I am doing the sleeve this way, I might as well put seam binding all the way down the entire underarm seam including that of the sleeve as well. Of course, you can't do any of this if the sleeve seam doesn't match the side seam of the body of the jacket.

There is a white ribbon tied at Rose's waist and you can see that this jacket, while not a bolero length, is short. That's why I went with a high-waisted skirt.