[wendy]

I could use some advice! i’m to sew a new dress for a friend’s daughter. She’s hoping for a School Photo dress in some nice sweatshirt fleece that she’s taken a shine to. Do you think that this might be do-able by eliminating the lining and changing the construction a bit? I’ve never sewn this particular dress. My main concern is the zipper. I’d be inclined to eliminate it but I’m not sure how easily the dress would go on and off without it. The fabric has some stretch to it but not much. Any thoughts?

[with love Heidi]

I would probably leave the zipper in as I am not sure it would go over the head otherwise. I have not sewn it but would love to see how it comes out and your thoughts. Maybe take a leaf out of Nicole’s book and use an exposed zipper. Hoodies all have zippers so a zipper so fleece is standard.

[Tamara]

I would definitely leave the zipper in as the neckline doesn’t accommodate for head room minus the zipper. I am wondering if you have some fleece similar to that of the chosen fabric for you to experiment with the zippers just to see how it will go as opposed to how you envision it? It might help you to make the design choices that are best suited to you sewing abilities and the needs of the recipient.

The windcheaters and hoodies tend to have the zippers with rather large teeth. I would suggest experimenting with a similar weight fleece with the invisible, lapped and chunky zipper to see what looks best.

As an alternative, if you didn’t want to do the zipper down the back, you could attach one under one of the arms at a side seam. Just as suggestion.

[Lightning McStitch]

I think it would be fine in sweater fleece. That stuff really doesn’t stretch much so I’d cut it and treat it just like a woven.

I’d leave the zipper where it is as I think you need to open up the neck and shoulder areas for getting it on. Use a regular dress zip instead of an invisible one and just sew a little facing in to cover the zip on the inside. It should be fine to omit the lining altogether. Great Idea, have fun!

[wendy]

Ooh…I like the idea of the exposed zipper at the back. I hadn’t thought of that, but that should look pretty good. I’ll definitely get some extra fabric to play around with, and also post photos if it all works out. Thanks for the advice!

[Liesl Gibson]

I think the zipper will be just fine if you use fusible interfacing along the area where the zipper will be attached. I’d also strongly suggest hand-basting the zipper (it really doesn’t take that long!) before machine stitching. Beyond that I think it will be great!

[buttonup]

I was thinking of sewing this dress for the Holiday in a beautiful white and red medium weight polyester fabric that is a reverse denim with the View A collar in a white faux fur. Do you think this collar would work in a faux fur?

[cybele727]

How does one do an exposed zipper?

[Nicole]

Buttonup, I have a piece of rabbit fur put aside to make one with a fur collar, I think it would look divine!

(I had thought about doing the inside pocket facing too, so the fur peeped out)

Cybele, I do a ‘cheats version of an exposed zipper here http://fiveandcounting-motherof5.blogspot.com.au/2013/01/a-christmas-fairy-tale-tutorial-part-2.html just scroll down a bit.

[Tamara]

Buttonup, it would look exquisite!

[cybele727]

Thank you MO5!

🙂

[cybele727]

OK, so that’s cool. My question is what happens to the tail at the bottom of the zipper? Do you just sew across and then cut the tails, or do you turn the tails under like you did at the top?

[Nicole]

You may tuck it under or cover the ends with some ribbon as I did here http://www.flickr.com/photos/motherof5/10771954745/ the beauty of my ‘cheats’ method is that it will be very easy to remove the zip and add a standard zipper (or invisible) later as nothing is trimmed away.

[cybele727]

Thank you!