Sewing project progress: full gathered skirt in red dupioni part V

So, because I can't bear to think about moving stuff right this second, I will post the next installment of my skirt project-- inserting the zipper!

I thought this part would be tough, and it sort of was, but the parts that were hard weren't the ones I expected to be hard. I was putting in an "invisible zipper," as they call it, designed so that when the zipper is closed the edges of the fabric will meet over it and block it from view. I had to look up how this is done, and it was tough finding a tutorial for hand stitching one in rather than one meant for using a zipper foot on a sewing machine. Still, I managed to cobble it together.

First I pinned in the zipper on one side, trying to get as much of the teeth covered by the edge of the fabric as I could without risking it getting caught every time the zipper opened and closed. To make a smooth edge, I folded over the fabric once before I pinned it to the zipper.

Then I sewed that in, taking care that the stitches only went through the zipper and the folded-under edge of the skirt and did not show through on the outer side. My stitches were huge and messy, as it was tough piercing through all those layers. I found myself wishing I had a thimble with which to push the needle through. I repeated this same process on the other side, keeping the zipper zipped so it would stay matched up. When I was finished it looked all right, but it didn't seem very securely anchored in there, so I made a few more rows of huge ugly stitches to make sure it would not pull apart from the fabric with use. Again I made sure that none of these stitches pierced through to the outer side. This is what it finally looked like.

Hmm. Not exactly invisible. Probably means I should have pinned the skirt edges farther over the teeth of the zipper, but I was worried about it catching. At least it looks neat, and when I tried it on, not only did the zipper work smoothly, it seemed securely attached, which is what concerned me most. The skirt even fit pretty darn well, and looked like a skirt! Heh, I won't show you the inside, given what a mess of ugly stitches it is. But all that remains now is the hem. It may be a while before I get to that, given how much of my house I need to get in order.