Invisible Zippers

Carrying right along then....

 

The Invisible Zipper Application

These zippers are wonderful and possibly the best choice if you want a zipper in a smocked garment.

There is one little trick you need to use and that is to open the zipper and press the teeth flat. They will return to their curled position once you close the zipper. Doing this allows you to stitch as close as possible to the zipper teeth, making the zipper truly invisible.

In this application you do not baste the placket closed. But you must be sure your seam allowance matches the width of the closed zipper tape. Also do not close the seam to which you are applying this zipper.

You can purchase a special adjustable zipper foot for the invisible zipper – you need to know what kind of shank your feet are (high, low, snap on etc.). Or you can use a five groove tucking foot if you have an adjustable needle position. Either way you need to check your machine with the zipper. You will also want your machine’s regular zipper foot to finish the application if you don’t have the adjustable invisible zipper foot.

 

Practise before you start on your good fabric. 

Stitching the first side with tucking foot

In this photo you can see that I am using a tucking foot to
apply the first side of the zipper. The zipper teeth are right up in the groove of the foot and the needle adjusted to come down very close to the teeth.



Right sides together, ready to stitch side two

In the photo above  the garment fabric is positioned with right sides together and opened so the second side of the sipper can lay, right side to right side, in preparation to be stitched. I've pinned the bottom to hold the position for stitching.

Here you see the invisible zipper foot that fits my machine. I've don't the stitching in red so you can see, well when it is visible, where the stitching is. 

Starting at the top....

Working from the top of the zipper stitch down as far as you can go. The zipper pull will prevent you from going all the way to the end.
 Start the zipper halves at the same distance from the top raw edge. There should be no twists in the zipper. Repeat the stitching process for this second side stitching from top to bottom of the zipper and adjusting the foot and needle for stitching of the opposite side.

 


Zipper pull will stop you

Check the zipper placement by pulling it closed. The two sides should be the same. Check things on the right side. Here you see the zipper is closed and the seam is not stitched below the zipper.



From the right side

Check the zipper placement by pulling it closed. The two sides should be the same. Check things on the right side. Here you see the zipper is closed and the seam is not stitched below the zipper.



Stitch the remaining seam

 

 

Now lift the zipper up and away from the seam. Use the extreme right hand position of the invisible zipper foot or a regular zipper foot rather than the tucking foot to machine stitch the rest of the zipper length. Then change to a regular foot to stitch the remainder of the garment seam. 

Sometimes there is a small gap at the bottom of an invisible zipper which can only be closed by hand. You may wish to stitch the bottom tails of the zipper tape to the seam allowance to give the zipper more stability.

 

The finished seam

 

You can use a zigzag stitch to whip the raw edges of the fabric to the zipper tape or serge the full length of either side of the seam allowances and press open. A Hong Kong finish would work here also for a couturier look.

One seam allowance is finished with zigzag stitching

That's it for tonight. Still more to come......