Easy Lapped Zipper

Once you learn how to make a lapped zipper using this easy industrial method you won't shy from zippers any longer. Just 4 basic steps and you will have a professional looking finish to all you dresses and skirts.

The first thing to do it to make sure your seam allowance in the zipper seam is at least 1 inch or 2.5cm. As most commercial patterns only allow you 5/8" or 1.5cm you will need to add on the extra in the area of the zipper. Personally, I just add it all the way down the entire seam unless there is a design detail that would make this inappropriate.

Next lay your zipper on the edge of your seam with the top of the tape exactly at the top of your fabric. Mark where the stop for the bottom of the zipper hits on your seam. Don't just use the marking from your pattern, actually open the tails of the zipper and mark where the bottom of the zipper will hit.

Stitch from that mark all the way down the seam only leaving open the area where the zipper will be inserted.

In western style clothing, womens garments close right over left. (Men's are left over right) and if you start from the front and carry this right over left all the way around the body the fabric is still sitting in the same orientation at the side seam or the centre back. Find the left front of your zipper opening as this is where we will be starting to sew.

                                                                  Lay your zipper, right side down on the left front of the garment stradling the bottom of the seam as shown.

 Your zipper tab should be centred and in line with 1"mark at the top.

Stitch down the zipper tape on the outside edge all the way down. Make sure your needle is moved to the left and your zipper foot is away from the zipper teeth.

Now turn your zipper right side up and it should look like this.

Roll the fabric on the left front toward the zipper teeth, position your needle to the right side of the zipper foot. There should be a small roll of fabric and a gap from the seam to the teeth as pictured here, this is good, you want that little gap!

You will be stitching close to the rolled edge and the zipper teeth from bottom to top. Its a good idea to stop every so often and tug the fabric layers to ensure that it feed evenly. You will probably find the zipper tape feeds faster than your fabric so checking and adjusting every few inches will stop it from going un even at the top.

The left side is now finished and should look like this.

Match up the 1"marks at the top of your fabric sections with the right sides together and the zipper on top.

Move your needle back to the left side of the zipper foot and starting at the bottom of the zipper, you will be stitching all the way up to the top, keeping the 1"marks together and maintaining the same distance from the edge of the zipper tape to the cut edge of the fabric all the way up. This will ensure that your zipper is in straight.

Now its time to open out your garment to the right side. Pin the two 1"marks together and smooth out the finished zipper. The fold should just cover the top stitching that you see here from the left front. I like to press it with the iron to give me a sharp crease before marking and sewing the top stitching.

Unless you have a dead straight eye, I would recommend drawing your topstitching line onto the garment before you try to sew it. Industry standard is to be 1/2"from the fold; you can get away with up to 5/8"which is what you see on mine. Anything larger will look out of proportion. Start your line just below the zipper stop, exactly at the seam line, pivot at the 1/2"or 5/8"mark and go straight up.

Once your stitching gets close to the zipper slider, stop with the needle down and open the zipper to make it easier to stitch the last portion straight.

And here is your finished lapped zipper.

Little Tips

I don't have our camera today so for this week I thought some helpful little ideas around stain removal, fabric handling and care might be helpful. Next week I will be posting on how to insert a perfect lapped zipper.

1/ We are often asked about working with silk as for some reason we have be cautioned about it so often we are afraid to work with this beautiful fabric. Ignore those dryclean only tags with a bit of caution. Silk does shrink so before cutting your item from it, hand wash it gently and then roll it up in a towel to remove the excess water. Iron it with a cooler iron so as not to scorch the fibres. Use a microtex needle for sewing as this will reduce the puckering in your seams. Our persperation and deoderants will discolour your silk garments so wash them frequently. 

2/ Acrylic and polyester fabrics are prone to pilling; those pesky little balls of fabric that appear on your favourite top! To help reduce this, turn your clothing inside out for washing and don't over dry them in the dryer. The only way to get rid of the pills is to use a disposable razor on smooth fabrics or stretch over a surface and use your fine sharp trimmers or embroidery scissors.

3/ One of the most common stains we all end up with is pen marks (berol ink) on our clothes. The best way to get this out is to spray it with hairspray until saturated, wait a few minutes and rinse!

How to hoop perfectly for embroidery placement.

This trick was shown to me a few years ago now by a very embroidery savvy lady and I have been sharing it with students and customers whenever possible.

It was always such an ordeal to get an item hooped exactly where I wanted it as just the action of pressing the hoops together was enough to make the fabric slip out of position. Yes, I can adjust things at the machine however, double sided basting tape has reduced the amount of fussing I now need to do!

First, draw lines at a 90 degree angle intersecting where you wish you design to be.

Next apply double sided basting tape to the inside edge of your inside hoop.

Now you can stick your inner hoop to your fabric using the intersecting lines to position the hoop centre to your project centre.

And of course, because it is sticky, it wont shift!

Now I am hooped and have my cross mark for the centre of the embroidery and I can use my machines positioning abilities to fine tune everything.

What a great time saver and once the basting tape loses its'stick I just put another layer on.

Simple Tips

Sometimes the most simple things can make a big difference in sewing so here are a couple of things I learned early on that saved me a great deal of frustration.

You already know that I sew as much by machine as possible to avoid hand sewing but, there are times when there is just no way around picking up a needle and thread. Sewing on a shank button is one good example.

To give your thread extra strength and to stop the thread from tangling during the sewing process, run the thread across a piece of beeswax then iron the thread to melt the wax into the fibres. Then you will  find hand sewing is a breeze.

Another simple thing is when you need to use "Fray Check" liquid to stop fraying, you may find it dries stiff. If you iron the area dry with an iron set to synthetic setting you will find the liquid dries to be more plyable and softer.

Why don't clothing patterns fit me?

Something that has always stumped sewers is why the patterns they buy don't fit. This is very frustrating once you have spent your time finding just the right fabric, lovingly cutting everything out and carefully constructing your garment.

This week I thought it would be helpful to give you some basic steps to follow when buying a new pattern and then what to do before you cut it out. First, it's important that you know that pattern sizes do not relate to clothing sizes. In fact, you have probably found that the more you are willing to pay for a garment, the smaller the size will be on the label. Garment companies have their own internal sizing system and it varies from company to company.

So, step #1, go armed with your body measurements. The basic bust, waist, hip is what you will need and then look at the back of the pattern for the measurement chart.

If you are making a top, a dress, or jacket, your bust is the best measurement to work with as it is easier to adjust the waist than the bust of a fitted garment. If you are making pants or a skirt, then your hip is the measurement to work with.

After you get home, you will need to check the fit of the garment before you cut it out. Lay out the pattern pieces and measure across the fullest part of the bust, the waist and the hip. Subtract the seam allowances and then take these measurement around your body to see if you like the way the garment will fit. Is it too loose? or too tight? Make sure you sit down and check before you decide. If it is too large or small, then do the same process for the next size up or down.

Fit is subjective; everyone has their own interpretation of what is a comfortable fit. What some might find too tight another might find just right.

The next step is to check the length of the pattern compared to your body length. You will probably need a friend to help with this one. One of the most important measurement I have found for length is the "back neck to waist" measurement as I have found most garments on myself place the waist about 2" higher than where I want it to be! I need to compare what the pattern has given me to what I need and then either lengthen or shorten the pattern to be comfortable for me.

Remember, you wanted to sew your own clothes because you don't care for the fit and style of what is at the mall, so don't try to just create off the rack at your sewing machine. Check your measurements and make the pattern and garment fit you - customize and ignore the size labels.

All of our clothing classes include help in measuring and fitting the pattern for your individual figure. You might also consider the Bernina My Label 3D fashion software. They do have a free download version you can try to see what you think. Click here for the link