There are two solutions. You can sew the hooks and eyes through all layers of fabric (lining, interlining, and fashion fabric) and hide the stitches with buttons or trim. If you don’t want the stitches to show, you can anchor the hooks to the interlining before the bodice is assembled. If you’re using a hook and bar, it should lay pretty flat, although if you’re overlapping the ends, there will always be a slight amount of rise, given that the two pieces are lying on top of each other and the hooks are not absolutely flat. For something truly 100% flat, you’ll need to abut the ends, rather than overlap them. You might try using smaller hooks/bars first, and see if that makes a difference. Or you could squeeze the hooks with pliers to flatten them a little, but be careful that you don’t flatten them so much that they can’t hook over the bar.

Take the front pieces of the bodice before they’re sewn to the sides and baste the fashion fabric and interlining together. Fold the front edges under. The width of this fold will vary based on whether you want the edge of the closure at the exact center front or if you want it offset to allow room for non-functioning buttons down the front. Delivery is on a selected date, you can choose a delivery day of your choice, up to 10 days in advance (Excluding next day delivery. Postcode restrictions apply)