Hi everyone!

Happy Tuesday! It’s time for another How To’s day this week, and today we are bringing you a Two Blog Post Special on some sewing basics. We will be teaching you two fundamental sewing techniques; once you master them…all your future projects will be that much easier! Part two will be showing you how-to sew an invisible hem (Click here!)

In this first post we will be sharing our how-to’s on Installing a Zipper!

In this mini-tutorial we used 2140502 #2, Yellow & Gray Deco Fans, and 2140503 #1, Yellow & Gray Hexagons. Both patterns are from The Design Studio Collection.

Now let’s get sewing!!

Click to see the full tutorials after the jump.

How To Install a Zipper

Putting in a zipper can be intimidating, which is a shame since basic familiarity with this aspect of sewing really opens the door for any number of projects. In this mini-tutorial, I’ll walk you through a simple and intuitive way of installing zippers.

Supplies:

– Zipper

– Project needing a zipper

– Basic supplies: sewing machine with a zipper foot, coordinating thread, straight pins, ironing & pressing surface, fabric marker, and scissors

Note: In this tutorial, you’ll want to backstitch at the beginning and end of any seam.

1. With the fabric’s Wrong Side facing up, place your zipper against the edge of the cloth where you’re planning to sew it. Mark on the fabric where the zipper’s teeth begin and end.

2. Sew the seam that will include the zipper, leaving a space for the zip between the marks you made in Step 1. Of course if the zipper is at the very end of a seam, as for a skirt’s waistband, you’ll only be sewing at one end of the gap. Press your seam open, including the space for the zipper.

3. Lay your project flat with the fabric’s Right Side facing up and the gap for your zipper horizontal in front of you. The top of the zip will be toward the left. Fit your zipper into the gap, Right Side up, with its tape tucked underneath the folded edge just meets the center of the zip. Pin the fold of fabric nearer to you to the near side of the zipper’s tape so that the fabric’s folded edge just meets the center of the zip. In the diagram we’ve shown the outline of the zipper tape and the edges of the fabric are parted slightly so you can see how everything is laid out, but in reality the fabric should pretty much cover the zipper.

4. Mount your sewing machine’s zipper foot on the left side of the presser bar as directed by your owner’s manual.

5. With the zipper open a couple of inches, sew from the top of the pinned zipper tape, as close to the teeth as you comfortably can, until you approach the toggle. Turn the hand wheel to insert your needle into the fabric, raise your machine’s foot and close the zipper. With the toggle now out of the way, lower the machine’s foot and finish the seam.

6. Pin your fabric to the zipper tape on the second side in the same manner as in Step 3, adding a pin at the bottom end of the zip as shown.

7. Stitch across the bottom of the zipper, then lower your needle into the fabric, raise your machine’s foot and rotate your work so the second side of the zip and fabric are ready to sew. Lower the foot and sew up the side of the zipper, once again keeping close to the teeth, until you approach the toggle. Put in your needle, raise the foot, open the zipper so the toggle is out of the way, and resume your seam.

8. When you reach the top of the zipper, if it’s a closed seam you’ll rotate the work as you did in Step 7 and sew across the top to finish installing the zipper. If the seam is open at the top, you’re all done!

Want to learn how to sew an invisible hem? Click here for part two of our How To’s day Sewing Basics!

Happy Sewing!