Welcome to Simply Sewing with SewVeryEasy,
my name is Laura. Simply Sewing is a series where we're covering just the basics of sewing, and it's the first Tuesday of every month. Today, let's talk about What would we do without a zipper? There are many different types of zippers and those zippers reflect how they need to be used. For example, we have a zipper which is considered a parka zipper. It's used in coats and sweaters because it is a zipper with an opening on one end. We'll be able to use that at the bottom of our jacket and at the top of the zipper it also opens and closes. So we're going to have that zipper going from both ends. We can also get zippers that open up all the way. They're also designed for sweaters or jackets. The bottom opens so we can get the garment on and then close that right back up. We have a zipper that's called an invisible zipper. It is designed to go in the back of lightweight clothing. When the zipper is put in the clothing, you don't see the zipper at all. You only see the tiny zipper pull. The zipper looks like it's put on backwards. The teeth look like they're at the back of the zipper. The clothing comes very very close so you don't see the zipper at all. You can get zippers that are closed on both ends and the pulls open up from the center. They are designed for purses. We'll be able to open up the zipper from the center and we can still put the pulls to one end or the other. Both ends are closed off so the pulls don't come off. You can also get decorative zippers and they also come in different styles. In this case it opens from the top but it has a stop at the bottom so the zipper will not come off. The most popular zipper is closed at one end so that zipper pull does not come off. It comes in many different sizes, colors, and weights. This is a heavier zipper and it has a larger tape. We have the zipper which is the center piece where the teeth are. That fabric on the outside is called the tape. So we have different tape sizes, different teeth sizes, different pull sizes, and different stopped sizes. Thi zipper has larger teeth and a larger tape so it would be used for heavier things, even purses. A lighter weight one has smaller teeth and smaller tape. The teeth also can vary between nylon and metal. Today, let's make a little zippered pouch. For this project you're going to be able to use any sized zipper at all, so if you happen to have a zipper at home, just use that. This particular zipper is a 10" zipper. The zipper measurement comes from the top to the bottom of the zipper teeth. The measurement is not the entire zipper; it's only the workable part of the zipper. In this case it is a 10" zipper. You can take the zipper and match it to a fabric size. We're going to put a little fabric on the ends. That's going to just give it a nice polished look, and it will save us from having to stitch over top of the teeth. I've chosen a fun cotton fabric. My fabric is 12" by 23". The fabric size just needs to be about 2" larger than the very ends of that zipper. So if this is a 10" zipper, I still have the little bit of the pull plus some fabric and that's going to be for both ends. Most machines will come standard with a zipper foot. The zipper foot can be different depending on your machine. Sometimes the foot can move from one side to the other, or you're going to be able to move your needle side. What we're looking for is the needle to be able to stitch along one side of the foot and then stitch along the other side. Being able to sew on each side of the zipper foot helps us sew in the zipper, because we'll be able to run along one side and then run that foot along the second side. A regular foot is a little bit more difficult to work with when it comes to a zipper, because we have that hump of the teeth. The bag is not going to be lined, so we need to make sure that we don't have any threads coming out. I'm going to take this fabric and do a zigzag and finish all of the edges off. That way I don't have to worry about any of the fabric fraying inside of the bag. You can use the serger or any stitch that you want to finish the edges. I will be using a very basic zigzag stitch. We can just do that zigzag along all four edges. We want to go on and then off the fabric. Once that zigzag is done we can give this a good press. From here we'll be able to put the zipper foot on. Some feet will just snap off; others, the whole foot will go on. When you put the zipper foot, on be sure to look at the location of that needle. The needle always wants to start in the center, but the foot needs to have the needle on one side or the other. Some feet you're going to be able to move; in my case, my needle is going to move. I always like to turn the handwheel and make sure that that needle is not going to touch the foot; it's going to go right through that hole. By turning that wheel I can see that I'm not going to hit the foot. If you're going to be sewing the zipper into a garment you'll be able to sew it just the way it is. You'll be able to come down and stitch up, so you will not need to cover either end. But because we're putting this in a little zippered pouch, it will have a very pretty finish if we do finish off these ends. We're going to be able to do them with two small pieces of fabric. It won't matter the size because we're going to be able to trim them down. Both ends are going to be treated the same way. Let's start with that bottom piece. We want to sew a piece of fabric onto the end We can start with a nice big piece of fabric, have the right side of the fabric facing the right side of the zipper. We're going to be able to see and stitch it from the wrong side. I have that little stop right at the end of the zipper. I want to sew right beside that. When we turn it over we'll be able to take that top piece of fabric and pull it back, so we have that little stop there but the zipper will be covered by this fabric. If you like you can do a row of stitching along this edge. That's just going to hold that into this flat position. Once we've done that row of topstitching we'll be able to trim off the edges of the fabric so that the fabric is the same width as the zipper. We've made the zipper longer and we have covered the back of that zipper tape. We can do the same thing to the top of the zipper. I recommend taking that pull out of the way and then have the right side of the fabric onto the right side of the zipper and turn it over. Make sure that the zipper does not get twisted and that it stays together, that we don't have that shifted. We want to keep those ends together so we have as little space as possible. With that row of stitching done we can turn this over, flip the fabric to the right side, and do that row of top-stitching along the fold. Now we can trim this off so that it's the same width as the zipper. Both the ends are going to have the same treatment. This is going to make it a lot easier to sew into fabric. We won't have to worry about stitching over the teeth. We now have made that zipper a lot larger than that fabric, and that's fine because we'll be able to trim those edges off. Now that the zipper has been done we'll be able to put that zipper right into this bag. We want to be able to take that zipper and put it in the top of that bag. Let's start with the fabric rightside-up. We're going to put the zipper on the 12" ends. The right side of the zipper needs to go on the right side of the fabric. We know this is the right side because that zipper pull is right up at the top. The easiest way is to put your fabric so it's facing up and your zipper so it's facing up. I want this edge of the fabric to go on this edge of the zipper. I'll be able to just take that and fold it so that the edges are meeting. Having that extra fabric on the ends will give you a chance to center that zipper where you'd like it. The zipper tape should just cover the edge of the fabric, so you won't see your fabric underneath but it will come right to the edge of that zipper tape. Pin the zipper right on. As we stitch down this edge the zipper pull is going to get in the way, so we're going to sew part of it and then finish sewing it after. It's really quite easy. We need to just undo the zipper a little bit. The bulk of the fabric is going to go to the left of the machine, which means the needle position also needs to go to the left in this case. We will be sewing along the edge here of the zipper. That foot is going to run right along the side of that zipper. Put your needle down. Now I'm going to be able to stitch right along this edge. As I'm stitching that foot is going to just run along that edge. Be sure to remove your pins. Stitch, and stop a little bit before the zipper pull. We need to put the needle down into the zipper and the fabric, lift up that foot, and then from underneath we're going to be able to just take that zipper pull and do up the zipper so it's right up to the top. Now we can put the foot down and continue sewing along that edge. We can sew right off the fabric. When the zipper is folded back it's going to give us a nice space so that that zipper can run. If you stitch really close to the teeth, the zipper has no room to run up and down so it will get stuck. We do need a little bit of space. The seam allowance in the zipper tape will need to be pressed towards the main body of the fabric. That seam is going to be covered with that zipper tape. An optional thing we can do is a row of top-stitching all the way down along the edge of the zipper. That's going to help prevent this back fabric from pulling to the front. We're going to be able to use that zipper foot and change that needle position to the other side. Place the needle down. We're going to be able to just use the edge of the foot and guide it along the edge of the fabric. That row of top-stitching will hold the fabric down and the zipper tape down. One side of the zipper is complete. We get to sew the second side onto the second side of the zipper. Take that front of the fabric and just fold it so it matches the edge of that zipper. We can turn this over and work from it on the other side. We need to make sure the edges are matched up along the sides and that edge is matched up along the tape of that zipper. We can pin that zipper right onto the fabric. Now we can bring this to the machine and finish the second side. And now that needle position is going to be moved just like we did the first row of stitching. Our row of stitching is going to follow right along the edge of that zipper. Having that extra fabric up at the top is great because we're going to be able to start there, stopping right before that zipper pull. We will need to move the super pull out of the way in order to finish sewing that zipper. Put your needle down, your foot up, put your hand inside and unzip the zipper. Now I'll be able to continue stitching right off the fabric, letting the edge of the foot run along the edge of the zipper. Stitch right off that fabric. We can turn this fabric right-side out and undo the zipper. It'll be easier to work with. Do a row of top-stitching right along the edge of that zipper. We're going to have to keep moving this fabric so we don't stitch over the bottom of the fabric. And we don't have to worry about the zipper pull because there's lots of room for the top-stitching. The next thing we need to do is just sew the two sides of the bag. Do up that zipper partway. I can place the zipper in many different spots. I can have it come right close to the top, I can do it ¾ of the way, I can also do it right in the middle. I'm going to have the zipper about 1" from the top. I still have that loop; I've just placed that zipper down a little bit. Making sure your edges are straight, we can now do a row of stitching to finish off both edges. The seam allowance will depend on how wide your zigzag was. We need to backstitch at the bottom, stitch all the way up, and we're going to stitch right over that fabric we put on. We have no worries of running over that zipper. Right up to the top, and backstitch. We need to do that to both sides and we get to put our regular foot back on. Sew with the zipper on the top and that way you can make sure that you're not running over the teeth that you're going to be stitching on that fabric that we put on the ends. Now we can trim off these ends, Because we left that zipper open, we'll be able to turn this right side out. Just poke those corners out. We now have a very simple unlined bag, with the zipper wherever we've decided to put it. The zipper finish looks nice because we've made sure that that seam allowance was tucked up under that zipper. That little piece of fabric that we put on each end not only does it look nice but it's made sure that we did not run over the teeth, which means you can use any size zipper you want. You could use a big heavy metal one. We now have a great little zippered pouch and we can make this pouch any size we want. The size will be dictated by the size of the zipper because we need that zipper plus the little fabric on the sides. That's going to tell us how wide the bag is going to be, but we can make this any length we want. It's just a matter of having a longer piece of fabric. We can also make this very short so you can put pencil crayons in it or makeup brushes. However you make it, they're fun to make and it's a great way of using up zippers. Thank you for joining me today on SewVeryEasy. Feel free to subscribe and, as always, come on back. Let's see what we're sewing next time
in the sewing room. Bye for now!
