Sewing An Invisible Zipper
Until a short while ago, sewing an invisible zipper used to scare the bejeezus out of me! I literally had shivers down my spine and wet palms just by thinking of an invisible zipper. But invisible zippers are a lot nicer than regular zippers, they make any sewing project look neat, clean and professional so I had to learn the technique. Plus I wanted to make a flower pillow wit some of my scraps and I needed an invisible zipper.
Even though my mom has been sewing for most of her life, about 56 years now, I’m a self taught sewist as she never had the patience to teach me. So learning new stuff, like sewing an invisible zipper have been quite a challenge for me. But after sewing my first zippers here, and particularly after inserting one in this lovely half circle skirt, I thought I should give the invisible zipper a try too; I figured it shouldn’t be such a huge difference!
I admit it was a bit of a challenge, mainly because I don’t have an invisible zipper foot and my budget won’t be able to accommodate one in the near future. But sewing an invisible zipper is entirely possible without having a special foot. Fair enough, an invisible zipper foot makes everything easier but if you don’t have one, don’t panic.
My machine came with a zipper foot (which I could’ve easily use it throughout the whole process) and also has a blind hem foot included. I used the blind hem foot because of the little bar in the middle. That bar holds the zipper teeth in place and can be moved closer or further away from the needle so you can sew as close to the zipper as possible. I used the foot for sewing the zipper down and then I switched to a regular zipper foot to finish the seam below and up the zipper.
Sewing An Invisible Zipper
Materials:
- pressing iron
- invisible zipper
- measuring tape
- 2 pieces of fabric
- matching thread
- scissors
- pins
- invisible zipper foot (if you have one, if not use a blind hem or a regular zipper foot)
- zipper foot
- sewing machine
Directions:
- Put your zipper with the back facing up, uncurl the teeth and press the zipper flat first. This allows you to stitch closer to the zipper teeth. Open the zipper and lay it wrong side up. Set your iron on warm and use your fingers to uncurl the teeth while pressing it flat with the tip of your iron.
- Put the first piece of fabric right side up. Place the zipper face down on the fabric. Leave the desired seam allowance.
- Pin the zipper to the fabric. (I forgot to take pictures so I’m showing you the pinning for the second fabric strip which is the same as the first one)
- Insert your invisible zipper foot/blind hem foot/zipper foot into your sewing machine. If you use a blind hem foot, adjust the bar so that it keeps the zipper teeth in place and your machine’s needle is very close to the zipper teeth.
- Stitch the zipper, backstitching about an inch. Sew slowly and remove the pins before they reach the foot. Stop when you reach the end of the zipper, or the mark on your fabric where the zipper should end. Backstitch.
- Repeat for the other side of the zipper and the second piece of fabric (fabric right side out, zipper wrong side out).
- Close the zipper to make sure that you’ve pinned it correctly, then unzip it before sewing.
- Stitch the zipper as you did before.
- Pull the zipper closed and press it lightly on the right side of the fabric.
- Sandwich the zipper in the seam allowance and pin carefully down the rest of the seam, with the zipper tail out of the way.
- Replace your foot with a regular zipper foot. Starting about 1/4″ above the end of the zipper, slowly stitch forward then do a small back stitch. This is a tricky part as the zipper will try to pull away from the needle. Just stitch slowly as close to the zipper as you can, down the rest of the fabric.
- And you’re done sewing an invisible zipper! Easy, right?
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Anne says
Great tutorial! I’ve got a Craft Gossip post scheduled for tomorrow morning that features your post:
http://sewing.craftgossip.com/?p=91856
–Anne