Layers, and How I sew a straight seam

I've now cut and thread traced all of the skirt panels - I can't stop taking photographs! Heres a few using different camera settings. I know these fabrics will look amazing in wedding photos :)

I thought I'd show how I've sewn the front and back seams (I'm going to leave at least two seams undone so that I can fit the skirt properly later - either that or I will sew all of them and put darts in to fit, I haven't decided yet)

 So first I line up the thread tracings and pin at both ends. I then line up the thread tracing along the seam as smoothly as I can.

At one end, I wrap thread around the pin

I unwind the thread to the other end and pin to the carpet. Keeping tension along this line makes it my 'plumb' line like a thread ruler.

I place pins along this line at regular short intervals then sew on my machine from pin to pin (take out the pins before sewing over). You have to concentrate on ignoring the thread tracing, as it is slightly wobbly.
I've been sewing these final seams on a 2.5mm straight stitch (Tension 5 on my Expression 3.0 machine) and have been extending the seam by around 1.5 inches at each end.

The result is a nice straight seam. I then take out the thread tracing and finish as per the post Attempting couture seams in my wedding dress.