[How to save layers as seperate in gimp?]

Greetings,

   I'vebeen working on teaching myself to create clothes. The problem I'm running into is when I save the files/export them I can't open them back up as layers regardless of format I choose. I've tried targa, png, and xcf.  and when I reopen the files  they always come back as only one layer. even if I choose "open as layers" 

help please?

 

[issues with clothes ?]

Greetings,

   I'm getting into making clothes for myself. I have been working on a basic tunic, but when I upload it.. the preview looks fine, but it's see through when I wear the item. The colors and design are there, but you can see my avatar's skin and such underneath. How do I fix this?