Zipper Anxiety

Are you basting first before you try and sew the zipper in? You can't beat basting for holding items in place, especially zippers.

Dee

I will give it a shot. I just pinned last time when things were terrible thank you.

Probably too late for this one, but I always cut zipper plackets an inch wide instead 5/8". On fleece, I cut 1.5" wide for a sports zipper.

On fleece, baste the zipper in with double-stick water soluble tape, aka Collin's Wonder Tape, about $3.50/roll. Lay the garment flat, stick one side of the tape to the zipper, peel the paper, and stick the other side of the tape to the fleece. Now sew.

On regular fabrics, I always use a strip of very lightweight or lightweight fusible interfacing on the placket area before installing a zipper. Basting in the zipper with WonderTape is a good idea, too, at least as a beginner.

The other thing with zippers is practice. Pick up some miscellaneous zippers in strange colors and sizes at Salvation Army, and install them in scrap fabric. After about the 10th zipper in a row, I'll bet you can do it without looking at the instructions, and they'll look good. Use long stitches and you can salvage the zippers for more practice.

Kay

You are, but I'll take all the advice I can get for next time.

I'm going to find this. Think they have it as TSWLTH? I think much fleece is in my future. Its cheap, useful and after looking at a few books, can be made to look very nice!!

What an excellent idea!! I will try this!

I did get the zipper in and I did it as it was in the pattern instructions and not as I have always read- they had you pin the zipper face down to the outside of the fabric, sew near the zipper, turn inside and then topstitch further away from the zipper. Came out ok after one false start, mostly because I'm an impulsive idiot. Vest looks pretty cute!

This is my method of putting in a zip (but please don't tell the seriously good sewists here as they'll probably point at me and laugh). I've been doing this for so many years now that it's become automatic as I know it works and works well for me. I sew the seam to the point where the zipper starts, do a couple of back stiches, change the stitch length to the longest basting stitich and then sew the rest of the seam. I press open the seam. I change to a zipper foot, lay the zip on the basted section of the seam, pin the zip inot position at top and bottom (one pin at each end). Make sure the teeth of the zip are centred on the basted seam and remove one of the pins as I lower the zipper foot into place to hold the zip. I then sew it in and then rip open the basting useing a 'quick unpick'.

This stuff is WONDERFUL. Make sure the package you get says "Wash Away Wonder Tape." There are some other products out there that are called nearly the same name, but nowhere near as good a product. This stuff won't gum up machine needles and eventually dissolves as you wash the garment. You will find a lot of uses for it. I use it for zippers (even invisible zippers.) I also use it for anything that I need to hold steady. Patch pockets, trouser hooks, bias binding if it's really giving me a fit, etc. It's great stuff.

You can usually find it at Hancock's. If you can't find it locally, let me know and I will find you an online source.

Sharon

This is how i learned to do zippers in Home-Ec in 7th grade, too! It's the easiest way IMO, i also use the "other" technique for one flapped zippers, but only for skirts' zips, cuz it takes longer, and mine dont always come out straight like this way. amy

Why would I laugh at your method, Farml? I've used the same method for 60+ years, except I've usually basted the seam by hand as DM taught me. Most times, now I also baste the zipper in as well. I've never put one in fleece, but I would think it'd work the same way as any "crawly" fabric.. One other thing I was taught early on is to sew each seam in the same direction from the bottom, one reason for the extra basting. Emily

I saw this method in my singer visual sewing manual, so I think it must be legit!! I think I'll try this and other methods to find what works best for me.

Beth, that is how I do a zipper too :-) Katherine

Not according to a friend of mine :-))

I feel on this method years ago and now don't bother to do anything different unless I'm doing an invisible zip.

I wsih I'd been taught this method. I had to find this way by myself so have never been sure if it's a legit way of doing it. I have a friend who has hysterics every time I mention it. She insists that it must be hand basted in before sewing.

It's

That always used to be my problem too! I find that it's easy to see where the teeth are with my current method so never have a crooked zip anymore.

Are they hard to learn to do?

Katherine

Not really, just different.

I find that what makes invisible zips more difficult than 'regular' zips is that I'm usually putting them into dressy garments and nearly everything is more difficult when I'm using a silky, slippery fabric than when I'm using something with more body. When I do an invisble zip in a challis or crepe, it goes in just fine. The ones in the charmeuse (or the lined georgette), not so much.

jenn

-- Jenn Ridley : snipped-for-privacy@chartermi.net

Nope. I have a leaflet about them. Email me a working email and I'll send you it.

I should SCAN the book!!!

Oh gads, she'd have 27 fits if she saw me put in a zipper like the RTW folks do...

Kay

Not really. In some ways they are easier than a 'normal' zip as you don't sew the seam of the garment - you put in the zip before doign the seam, but you do need an invisible zipper foot I would have thought. I have a plastic foot which I must have bought about 30 years ago and it works like a charm but won't fit my Bernina - I have to use one of my old Singers - the plastic foot fits onto a variety of different shanks which means it will fit lots of different machines - I just have to fiddle about to get the right shank on which I put the foot. and it has 2 types of feet- one for plastic invisible zips and one for metal invisible zips. I dont recall seeing a metal invisible zip for years though.

The special foot makes the teeth of the invisible zip stand up and then you just sew down the sides of them as I recall - I haven't done one for ages, but they were never a drama except fro identifying the right shank.

I just went off and did a google and found out that I can buy one for my Bernina so must get one - Foot No 35. Thanks ofr asking the question or I would probably never have thought to look for a Bernina foot.

:-)) I caused some ructions as my friend's daughter (then a sulky 17 year old who liked me for some reason) was here one day and feeling down because she and her mother had had a fight about putting in a zip. I told the sulky one how I did it and she promptly went home and put the zip in MY way when her mother's back was turned. I got a rocket from the mother and the daughter got a larger rocket, but she thought it was worth it as in her mind she'd put one over on her mother. I felt shlightly shop soiled after the whole incident.