Hollyburn Sew-along - Zipper (Lined Skirt)

Welcome to the next post in the Hollyburn Skirt Sew-along! Incase you've missed any, here are all the posts so far:
- Inspiration (Part 1)
- Inspiration (Part 2)
- Choosing a view
- Sizing
- Choosing and Buying Fabric
- Changing the Length
- An Interview with Tasia
- Pattern Alteration - Removing the Pockets
- Pattern Alteration - Piping on your waistband
- Prewash and Prepare Fabric
- Thoughts on Grading Up in Size
- Choices to make before starting to sew
- Cutting Layout and Cutting
- Sewing the Pockets
- Skirt Seams
- Zipper (Unlined Skirt)

Today I'm going to go through the steps for adding the zip if you've lined your skirt. You need to modify the method we showed yesterday for the unlined version, so that the skirt is finished nicely on the inside with the lining. The technique I'm going to show you is based on the method that Tasia showed us in the Crescent Skirt Sew-Along (Part 1, Part 2), but modified slightly to accommodate that we have a folded waistband and lining rather than a facing.


Prepare the Lining
First, you need to prepare your lining. Sew the two skirt front and two skirt backs together, much like the skirt, it will look something like this:

Sew lining to waistband
Now, we want to attach the top of the lining to the other side of the waistband. If you added the extra notches that I suggested last week, then line up the notches on the waistband with the centre front and side seams of the lining, right sides together:

Stitch the seam with a 1.5cm (5/8") seam allowance, and press the seam allowance towards the waistband. It should look something like this:

Sew the centre back seam
Now stitch up the centre back seam for the skirt (but NOT the lining), as we did yesterday, matching notches. Finish the two edges separately, all the way up to the waistband. I finished mine like the centre front, with binding around the raw edge like my centre front seam.

Check the size
Now, similar to yesterday we're going to pin the zip in place and try on the the skirt to check the size.

First, fold the waistband in half lengthwise, matching the skirt and lining waistband seam, and press the waistband in half. Now, with the skirt and lining together, fold back the seam allowance of 1.5cm at the centre back seam and press lightly. Now pin the zip in behind the fabric so you can try the skirt on.

As with yesterday, spend some time to make sure that your skirt is the right size at this step.

Once you're happy with the size, repress the fold, as this will act as a marker of where your seamline will be. If your fabric doesn't hold a crease-line then mark it with a marking pen/pencil instead. Below you can see my fold-line, as you can see I've taken the skirt in slightly as it was a bit big, so the seam allowance is bigger than the standard 1.5cm:

Now we're going to pin the zip into place to first stitch it to the lining, and then the outer skirt.


Sew the zip to the lining
Take your zip, and place it right side up, with the skirt lining right side up too:

Open up the zip and pin it so that the zipper teeth line up with the fold-line, with the zipper tape on the seam-allowance side. The top of the zipper should be just below the fold-line of the waistband:

Quick Tip: Make sure that you're only pinning the zip and lining, and not the skirt fabric.

Now close up the zip and make a mark where it crosses the waistband seam (marked in pink):

Now we're going to pin the other side of the zip to the other side of the skirt. First, line up the other side of the centre back seam next to the first one:

Now fold over the zip so that its orientation is a mirror image of the first side of the zip, with the teeth next to the fold-line and the tape in the seam allowance:

And line up the mark you made on the zip with the waistband seam (marked in pink):

And then pin the rest of the zip to the lining:

Now we're going to sew the zip to the lining. Using the zipper foot on your sewing machine, sew a line of stitching slightly to the side of the teeth down both sides of the zip:

Once stitched it should look something like this, the zipper pull should have naturally rotated to face the outside of the skirt:

Now close up the zip, and give the lining a light press, so that it's folded back across the seamline that you just stitched.

Sew the zip to the skirt
If you turn the skirt right sides out, the outside of the zip should look something like this:

First, we will fold back the top of the zipper, so that it's enclosed in the top of the waistband. Fold back the top like this:

And slide it inside the waistband, now adjust the folded edges so that the outer edge meets the edge of the zipper teeth, and the inner edge is a little further across so the zipper tape is slightly visible. Now pin it in place:

Resume pinning the zip to the skirt making it so that the folded centre back edge just meets over the centre of the zip. Make sure your waistband seams line up on either side of the skirt. It should look something like this:

And on the inside it should look something like this:

As with yesterday, you can choose to baste the zip in before you sew the line of top-stitching, it's your choice.

Now, again using your zipper foot, stitch a line of top-stitching around the edge of the zip:

And that's it! A lovely zip that's neatly finished on both the inside and the outside!

How's everyone going with the Sew-Along? We're coming into the home stretch now, not many steps left to go!

Missed any of the sew-along posts, or just want to re-read them? You can find the full list here.