Grey Winter Skirt Finished and Sewing a Zip Pocket

Today I got on with the job of finishing my skirt and while I was doing so I thought I would include  few photographs of how I do a zip pocket.  They are not as difficult as you might think and as  with anything just practice on some scraps first if you have not done one before.
Here is the finished skirt, then I will go through what I did.

First of all in assembling the skirt I sewed the little pleat on the front and back pieces.

  I had pins in to keep it even and I repeated the process front and back.

I sewed it to a little v, then removed the pins.

Next I sewed the darts into the yoke panels, I had marked with a notch where I wanted them to go and then deciding how far down was easy as I used the lines in the fabric to keep the end points even.

I have also started adding a pin to the right sides of fabric especially now that it is darker as it can be sometimes difficult to tell the right side from the wrong side.

Next I notched the centre yoke, put right sides together with the bottom piece, stitched them together then top stitched.

For the pocket I decided on the angle and pinned a rectangle of fabric in place, I marked where the top and bottom of the zip would go and then sewed a thin rectangle just wider than the zipper teeth.

Next I cut along it making a little snip into each corner.

Fold it through the hole then straighten it all up, I used pins to keep it all straight.  You don't always need to do that but this wool will not hold the fold, a cotton fabric would.

Next sew your pocket fabric to the zip, I used the wool on one side and lining on the other to save on bulk.

Place it behind your pocket opening again you can pin it if it helps. Don't worry about the shape you will be trimming it neat once it is in place.

Sew on the inside close to the original stitch line.

The wool is pointing upwards when laid flat and the lining downwards.  Now fold the wool downwards so it lays behind the lining piece.

Then stitch around it, now trim away any excess and neaten.

Now I stich front and back together and add the waistband lining and zip.

I hand stitch the waistband on the inside catching in the lining as I go.

I also hand stitch the hem.

A little press and it's finished, sadly dark by the time we had finished our meal and I had chance to photograph it.

A side zip and a small button.

I am very happy with it, all in with the remnant, lining and side zip it cost me £4.50,  the chunky zip in the side pocket I already had in my sewing box.