Back to zippers

Slot Zippers

This style of zipper application is fairly new I think and came along with the advent of decorative zippers. You know, the ones with the rhinestone or decorative teeth.

You need to measure the width of the zipper from one side of the tape to the other and also the width of the area you wish to expose. You will need enough tape on each side of the zipper to allow attaching it to the garment securely.
Then you need to measure the length of the zipper teeth. To this you must add 1/4" plus the seam allowance at the top of the zipper. Note these measurements.

Stitch the garment seam closed and press the seam allowances open.

On the back of the garment, mark the length you recorded. This line must be at right angles to the seam. Now trim the seam allowance to ¼” or less for this length. Draw in your vertical stitching lines at 5/16" on either side of the seam. You should have a box drawn on the wrong side of your fabric. Check that you can still catch the zipper tape on either side if you cut this box.

Cut a 'lining' or 'facing' to back the zipper placket about twice the width of the zipper and approximately 2" longer than the length measure you recorded.  Apply an iron-on interfacing to the wrong side of this piece and finish the raw edges. Lightly press this 'facing' in half lengthwise to mark the centre.

 

With right sides together, place the 'facing' in position over the seam line of the garment. Centre it on the garment seam with the help of the press mark. Pin in place.
 

 

Place the ‘lining’ on the seam line of the garment, right sides together, centred on the seam line. (Use the fold line to centre the lining.). Pin in place from the wrong side.

Box stitched, seam allowance trimmed

From the wrong side, machine stitch on the vertical guide line, down one side, across the bottom and up the other side. Press lightly.

Cut out the centre of the ‘placket’ leaving a narrow seam allowance. Cut into the corners to get a good sharp turn. Press, then turn the ‘facing’ to the wrong side of the garment. You have just created the “Slot” for your zipper.


Box trimmed out and corners clipped

Facing turned to wrong side and pressed

 Now you will position the zipper behind the slot and hand baste it in place. Pin first. The zipper stopper should be about ¼” above the bottom of the slot end. Pin the zipper tapes together so they touch but don’t overlap.

One side first...

                       

Then the other.

 

With your zipper foot (or if there is room to work use your 'edge joining' foot) machine stitch along the very edge of the ‘placket’ to secure the zipper in place. You can start with the zipper open and as you approach the zipper pull, leave the needle in the fabric, lift the machine foot and close the zipper. Stitch to the end of the ‘placket’, leave the needle in the fabric, lift the foot, pivot, drop the foot and start up the second side. Stop at least half way up with the needle in the fabric, open the zipper and finish stitching the length of the placket. Remove basting stitches.

 

For extra security you can stitch the zipper to the placket ’facing’ by lifting the garment and stitching through only the zipper tape and the ‘facing’ if there is room. If you wish and the style of garment allows it you could alternatively top stitch either side of the zipper with a second row of stitching about ¼” away (if this second row of stitching will catch the zipper tape on the wrong side). You could do this with a decorative stitch if you so wish.

Hope this has been inspiring and that you give a slot zipper a try!
Till next time, keep stitching.....
 

 

Last minute ideas

Time is running so short and I went looking for the kids' Santa sacks yesterday to get them ready for Santa's visit on Christmas eve. These are filled with many memories of Christmases past.

When our son was born I made a traditional Christmas stocking but most of Santa's gifts wouldn't fit! So for the next Christmas I set about making a Santa Sack better suited to Santa's visit.
My sewing at the time had a disc that stitched out holly leaves. I stitched Santa Sack free hand onto a piece of the fabric and appliqued it with the holly stitch.
When our daughter came along, another Santa Sack had to be made.

A few years later I was writing for a craft magazine and created another version in Black Watch miniature fabric, French Val lace insertion appliqued for the letters, red buttons for holly berries and appliqued white padded holly leaves.

Lastly we became babysitters for our daughter's two cats one year while she was moving across the province. So the cats got Santa Sacks for Christmas too - for their Santa treats. I re purposed two velveteen bags and embroidered their names in red and green Pearle cotton using the Magic chain stitch.

Hope these are of some inspiration - they are so easy....
Wishing you all a very happy holiday season!!
Till next time, keep stitching!

Christmas gift idea

Look at what I made for a fairly quick gift for my grown children.

All three of them love to cook. Our daughter is the baker and her husband the 'from scratch' king in the kitchen. My son is still practising but catching on fast and eager to always try new things.

I needed something for each of them as they will be sharing a kitchen for a while. So I went hunting for plain aprons and found then in 100% cotton in the very style I was hoping to find - at the Hudson's Bay Company store. There were even three perfect colours - what luck.

I knew what I wanted to write on two and brainstormed for a week to come up with the third saying with which I was happy.

Then I wrote each out on the computer. I played with fonts and sizes until I was happy. The final results were in "Celebrity" in a very large size. But of course you can choose any font that appeals and lends itself to embroidery - what ever type of embroidery you love to do.

I chose to work the script in the common chain stitch in #5 pearl cotton.  But if you have time, you could do shadow embroidery or split stitch or any number of stitches or techniques.

If you are not a hand embroidery person you can work the font free hand on your machine or if you have an embroidery machine just program your script as you want it and do a test of course before you tackle your aprons.

I used a light table and water soluble pen for the beige and red aprons. The black fabric was a challenge and I ended up using a white chalk pencil and writing the lettering out by hand. There are loads of other ways you could do a dark fabric.

I spent three relaxing evenings stitching love into each apron. Now I just hope they use them!

So next I am considering doing up some tea towels if I can fine nice plain woven linen or cotton for their kitchens - maybe next year as time is getting short already! Here are some ideas for you if you like this idea....

Coffee or Tea

Cream or Sugar

Oil or Vinegar

Salt & Pepper

and so on....

Have fun with this and do keep on stitching!
Judith

Where in the world.....

Where have I been? Well it's a long story but I hope I am back again. I know I am hard at work.

My mother-in-law had a heart attack back in July and I was gone the month of September to assist with closing down her apartment and getting her set up in a nursing/assisted living home. Since then it has been a bit of a catch up while tending to "business" and working on a new pattern.

Meet Buckleberry, my tribute to Little Baby Prince George, the new little son of Prince William and his wife, Kate Middleton. This, my newest pattern, Buckleberry, will be available soon. But to whet your sewing appetites. Here is a quick view of the pattern cover.

This little bear, sitting about 8" tall or standing about 12", can be made in most any fabric for a child or just yourself. You can embellish him in most any needle art or leave him plain and let the fabric do the talking. I hope you will find this little fellow a charm to make and a charm to give!
 
I received a note from Kathy F with a photo of Summer Breeze which she finished after a class with me at SAGA. Great work Kathy!!
 

 
 
Kathy made Summer Breeze 'her own'.  She chose "Liberty cloth for the gown and changed the top insertion to one with butterflies! As soft as the fabric is, I decided to add the embroidery in Madeira silk thread with feather stitch and French Knots and fly stitch stems and leaves in the insertion at the bottom of the front panel." She says she is "delighted with my finished gown and can't wait to take it to Show and Share". What a treat to see someone take a pattern and 'run with it' so to speak.

And look at the photo Sr. Sarah J. sent. Her interpretation of  Little Snowdrift. Not sure if you can see it but she's added bead accents. Beautiful!

So hopefully I'm back to blogging and will continue to work on some additional zipper installations. There is so much to catch up on and Christmas is just around the corner!

TTFN, Judith

Hand Applied Zippers

The Hand Applied Zipper

This method is sometimes call hand pricked or handpicked as the stitches look like little prick or pick in the fabric.

While working in a knitting shop a few years ago I often inserted zippers into hand knit garments for customers. This led to doing hand applied zippers in regular garments. They are so easy and amazingly strong but not suited to garments where the zipper will be under stress – like a skin-tight stretch knit.

Machine baste the seam closed and press it open. Remove the basting. With a fading marker, draw a line ¼” from the seam line into the garment, the length of the zipper.

 

One more thing while you have the ruler out, dot along each line every ¼” starting and ending so the dots match from side to side.

 

Thread up a needle with matching thread and put a good solid knot in the end of the thread.

Open the zipper and position one side (right side up) under the zipper ‘placket’ as it will sit when the zipper is inserted. The zipper teeth are right against the fold of the fabric but not showing. You may wish to place a pin or two to hold the zipper in place. When you have some experience you won’t even need the pins.

 

Bring the needle to the surface at the bottom of the first dot. (The dots are pretty small but they still have width.) Take the needle to the back at the top of the dot and bring it to the top again at the bottom of the next dot. You are doing a back stitch but the surface of the stitch is just a pinprick! Be sure the tension is the same for each stitch on both sides. Using the dots and lines makes this so much easier to get straight and evenly spaced stitches.

When you have one side done knot off and repeat the process for the second side.

Finish the seam allowances as suited to the fabric.

Now to give this method more punch, you can use three strands of embroidery floss to match or coordinate with your fabric. These stitches are a bit bolder.

Next try making a French knot on the surface of the fabric with each stitch you take.

 

 

If you want some bling, try using a fine needle and adding a reflective bead or seed bead on the needle with each stitch you take on the surface.                                                                         

In the next photo you can see different types of stitches or applications. On the bottom row of stitching, back stitching has been used.    

 

On the top side starting at the right  you can see French knots, seed beads and then bolder gold beads. The purple line from the facing marker will disappear and you will be left with a good straight line of stitching!

 

With a hand applied zipper, you can really add a special touch to a simple garment without overdoing the glitter!

Two more types of applications to go....  

Keep stitching! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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......

Lapped Zippers

Following right along then, let's tackle a lapped zipper.
 
 

Fig. 1

This is the type of application you are most likely to see in a side skirt. The same principles can be seen in fly closures of some garments.

 

So once again check the width of the zipper and make any adjustments to your seam allowances. Fig. 1

Fig. 2

You will machine baste the seam closed and press the seam open.

Switch to a zipper foot and adjust it so the needle will be stitching between the foot and the teeth of the zipper.

Open the zipper.

Lay the zipper face down onto the seam allowance only and attach regular machine stitching. Machine stitch down the middle of the tape width. This first step is usually done on the back garment seam allowance. Fig. 2

 

Fig. 3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now turn the zipper face-up. Make a narrow fold in the seam allowance and finger press. Adjust the zipper foot to the other side so you can stitch the length of the zipper next to this new fold.  You are still stitching through the seam allowance and zipper tape only.  Fig. 3

Fig. 4

 

 

Spread the garment out flat with the zipper face down on the front seam allowance. A small pleat will from at the bottom of the zipper placket. To be sure you are stitching straight, draw a line ¼” from the zipper teeth on the tape to keep your stitching straight and evenly spaced from the zipper teeth. Fig. 4

Fig. 5

 

 

 

 

 

Stitch across the bottom of the zipper and up the other side.

 

 

Check the stitching from the right side. If all is well, take the threads at the bottom of the zipper placket to the wrong side and tie off. Fig. 5

Use a press cloth and steam to press from the right side.

Fig. 6

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Remove the basting thread that is holding the placket closed. Fig. 6

Finish the seam allowances, incorporating the zipper tapes.

 

Hope you are seeing how easy these types of zipper applications can be.

 

Till next time then......