How to Insert Zippers

Zippers can be added to many items for more convenient. fastening

When sewing homemade items such as clothing or bags, you can add a zipper to virtually any item as you make it. You can also insert a zipper into an existing item, either to replace an old zipper or as a new feature. With a few pins handy and a sewing machine with a zipper foot, you can finish sewing in your zipper in a matter of minutes.

Things You'll Need

• Sewing machine Zipper Pins Iron Zipper foot Seam ripper

Instructions

1. Line up the two edges of fabric where you plan to insert the zipper, with the right sides of the fabric facing one another. Using a basting stitch (also called a tacking stitch), sew a seam one half-inch from the fabric edge. Make the seam longer than the zipper you want to attach. If you are inserting an "open" zipper, such as for jackets, skip ahead to Step 4. Proceed to Step 2 for "closed" zippers, such as for makeup bags.

2. Turn your fabric so the basting seam is horizontal. Hold your zipper parallel to the seam with the top of the zipper on the left and the bottom on the right. Use the zipper as a guide to place two pins into your fabric to mark both the top and bottom of the zipper. Don't pin through the zipper. Be sure you don’t mark the zipper tape, but the actual points where the zipper starts and stops.

3. Use a regular stitch and a 1/4-inch seam to sew from the left side of your fabric to the pin that marks the top of your zipper. Sew a second seam from the pin that marks the bottom of your zipper to the right hand side of your fabric. Leave open the space between the two pins. Remove the pins.

4. Open the fabric, lay it face-down and press the seam allowances flat. Lay the zipper right-side down over the open seam of the fabric. Center the zipper and pin it in place.

5. Sew all four sides of the zipper tape to the fabric using a zipper foot on your machine if you are working with a "closed" zipper. Sew down only the two long sides if you are working with an "open" zipper. If possible, sew down both of the long sides in the same direction. Use a seam ripper to remove your basting stitches to finish the zipper.

Tips & Warnings

• To sew a basting stitch with your machine, simply change the stitch length to its longest setting. Just be sure to change it back before you sew the seam in step three. If you are working with lightweight fabric, then cut a strip of one-inch-wide interfacing to the length of your zipper and adhere to the fabric edges on the wrong side before following the steps above.

References

• Threads: Sewing In a Zipper
• "Complete Guide to Sewing"; Reader's Digest; 1995