Serging Seams, Putting in Sleeves

Here's my method of sewing this dress, the top of which is lined:

I sew front side pieces to front, back side pieces to back, and then the shoulders together, doing satin and lining separately.  I then sew them together at the neck, right sides together, clip, turn, and press.  I considered using interfacing at the neck, decided not to – and it lies very nicely without it.

Next, I sew the armholes of lining and satin together, wrong sides together, leaving sides open, and then put in the gathered sleeve.  I serge the gathered sleeve seam, then make a serged side seam from wrist to waist.  I serge the back seam edges in preparation to putting in the zipper.

I’ll press the gathered sleeve seam toward the dress and tack it at the shoulder, stitching in the ditch.  When the seam goes back toward the dress, the gathered sleeve stands out from the shoulder and drapes better.

Now I’m ready to put on the skirt – and I’ll sew it to lining and satin both at the same time, then press the seam up and tack it by stitching in the ditch through side seams, front side seams, and back side seams.  I could enclose the waist seam between satin and lining, but that’s more likely to cause the top to not lie smoothly, should the lining get pulled tighter than the satin.

My way might not look as pretty on the inside as if all the seams were enclosed, but it generally looks better on the outside.  And the serger makes those seams that do show on the inside look good in any case.

Since I don’t have plum-colored serger thread, I used plum-colored thread only in the loopers and put black serger thread in the needles.  Doesn’t look too bad: