How I get an invisible zipper looking neat at the top!

I know I have mentioned this before, but I hate hooks and eyes. They are pesky little things to be avoided at (almost) all costs. Usually I just leave them off and nothing terrible happens - my garments don't inconveniently unzip themselves! However, doing this does mean that you can sometimes get a little (or large!) ‘V’ shape at the top of the zipper where the opening doesn't quite close. In a tireless quest for perfection I have been working on ways to avoid this.

You might remember that the last dress I made (featured in my last post) has a low back neckline so the zipper closing is very visible. But, if I say so myself, I think I was quite successful in getting it to look acceptable without having to resort to a hook and eye.


Close-up of back zipper


As it is a rainy bank holiday Sunday and I am nursing a miserable cold I thought I would occupy myself by sharing my secret technique with you. Firstly, however, a warning! I have never seen it done this way in a book so it is probably VERY WRONG. If you want to do things properly, maybe you shouldn't try this.

As I didn't take photos when I made my dress, I have made, from scrap fabrics, a mock-up of one side of a back bodice to illustrate what I am talking about.

At the back of the zipper, with the zipper closed, put a chalk mark on the zipper tape where the top of the slider finishes.

Open the zipper and pin it to the right side of the back bodice, in the usual way, so that the zipper teeth are along the centre back seam line and the chalk mark you have made is just below the seam line of the neckline. How much below depends on the thickness of the fabric - if it is thin 1/8" will be ok, thicker fabric needs about 1/4" - you are allowing for the turn of the fabric.

If you are making a dress with an edge to edge lining that has already been attached it will be placed below the already sewn neckline seam that joins the bodice and the lining. If you are going to be attaching a facing after inserting the zipper it will look like this photo, (I have chalk marked the seam-line for the purposes of clarity - I wouldn't normally do this.)

Start sewing from chalk mark on zipper tape

Sew the zipper in the usual way, with an invisible zipper foot, But DON'T start sewing from the top of the zipper tape (which is how books usually demonstrate it is done). Instead you should start sewing from the chalk mark down to the end (I use the lockstitch on my machine at the start point). Do the same on both sides.

The top of the zipper tape, above the slider, will be loose. Then, if you are attaching a facing, you should pull the tape out of the way and sew the facing to the bodice WITHOUT sandwiching the zipper i.e. like this (pretend the yellow fabric is the facing)


DO sew zipper like this

and NOT like this.


DON'T sew zipper like this


Leaving the top of the zipper tape free means that when you close the zipper and sew the lining or facing to the zipper you can pull the bits of the zipper tape that are above the slider well inside the garment and out of the way. I find that this way it is easier to get it looking neat, it helps avoid nasty lumps and you can get much less of a ‘V’ at the top of the opening.

After much experimentation this is my preferred (if unorthodox!) way of dealing with invisible zippers. It works for me on skirts as well as dresses. I hope that you find it helpful to see how I do it.

Do you have a tried and tested way of getting invisible zippers to look how you want or do you struggle with them? I'd love to know .......

Finished jeans ... and some tips!

So, you have been warned, my jeans are finished and, yes, they are purple

But that is the wonderful thing about making your own jeans – you can make them any colour you like! The fabric is a cotton twill with a little lycra and it’s just perfect for a summer-weight pair of jeans – it is sturdy but cool.

These jeans are the product of taking Jennifer Stern’s ‘Blue Print to Blue Jeans’ course on Pattern Review. It was excellent – I got some great fitting advice by posting pictures of my muslin for Jennifer to comment on.

Here is the back view


And this is the pattern I used, it’s McCall’s 5894
I did, however, make the fit a little different because I lowered the front rise by about an inch and I narrowed the legs from the hips to the knees. I was aiming for a ‘relaxed’ fit with a slight flare. If you are thinking of using this pattern, the instructions are excellent but you might want to go down a size from the one they give for your measurements.

When it comes to making jeans I do think that it is worth the effort of adding the details that turn a pair of pants into a pair of jeans




The contrasting topstitching, the coin pocket, the rivets and the belt loops all give the garment ‘authenticity’ and a nice toughness, even if you aren’t working with denim.

When looking at the close-up photograph of the front, above, you might be wondering if I lost control of my sewing machine when it came to topstitching the coin pocket because on one side of the pocket the stitching extends to the waistband. This wasn’t a mistake, it’s one of the design suggestions that Jennifer gave us in the course and if you look at RTW jeans you will find that quite a lot of them have similar interesting stitching details.

While constructing my jeans there were two pieces of equipment that I found invaluable. This one,

called a Jean-a-ma-jig, is a simple but ingenious device that helps your machine get over the hump of lots of layers of fabric. In fact my jeans weren’t as bulky as denim but the difficulty wasn’t stitching through a lot of layers of fabric so much as when I had a difference in layers, i.e. when there is a hump of fabric and the presser foot can’t lie flat. Without the Jean-a-ma-jig I would never have got my belt loops sewn on without throwing my machine (and myself!) out of the window.

The second thing is a pair of Prym Vario Pliers.

These pliers, which cost about £9.50, make inserting rivets very easy indeed. One squeeze makes the hole, then you change the heads, place the rivets in the pliers, another squeeze and they are in. It’s very quick, simple and secure. I also used the pliers for attaching my jeans button (when you buy the buttons they come with the special heads for the pliers). No need for hammers, screws, wooden blocks etc. I purchased mine at Kleins in central London. If you want to see them in action, Kleins have a video on YouTube, you can see it here

Another tip. I discovered that it is much easier to make a neat buttonhole if you don’t sew down the front belt loop on the buttonhole side until after you have made the buttonhole. I made a couple of trial buttonholes on spare fabric without any difficulty but when I tried it on the real thing my machine jammed up. What was happening is that the back of the buttonhole foot (which extends quite a long way) didn’t like having to go over the belt loop. Once I had unpicked the stitching that held the belt loop down, so that I could fold it out of the way, the machine did the buttonhole without any trouble.

Before I go, I must, of course, also mention Peter’s MPB Jeans Sew-Along. If you want a clearly explained tutorial on jeans construction then Peter’s blog is the place to go.

Having finished making a pair of jeans I feel quite light-headed. Designer jeans cost a lot of money – it’s a billion dollar business - and there is something very liberating about the thought that I can make some of my own. In any colour, with any of the little design details that I fancy. And if I can, then believe me, so can you!

Sewing tips from some talented people ......

I want to say thank you to everyone who left me a nice comment about my Burda skirt with the bow and flounce, featured in my last post. Readers, you are such lovely people! As an added bonus two very skilful sewists left me some sewing tips which I am reproducing here in case you missed reading them.

KayY, from The Sewing Lawyer, suggested that instead of hemming the flounce, it could be lined:
“Sew the lining and fashion fabric at the hem, turn, press, and then treat the lined flounce in the same way you'd treat it if unlined. A very neat, fluid hem results, and the weight of the lining helps with flippiness. You can then line the skirt portion shorter without fear of the unlined flounce getting caught on hose.”

Isn’t that an ingenious way of treating a flounce? I think it would be especially good if you are using a light weight or silky kind of fabric because it would give the flounce more body and prevent any unsightly puckering at the hem. When it comes to flounces, flippiness is definitely what we’re aiming for!

I made my skirt from wool crepe, one of my favourite fabrics, and Carolyn, from The Diary of a Sewing Fanatic, very generously offered the following tip for getting the best out of this fabric: “When I use wool crepe for a skirt, 9 times out of 10 I add a silk organza underlining. It helps with drape and wrinkling!”

I am now very keen to give this a try. I have read quite a lot about underlining and I have been thinking that this is a technique that I should be using if I want to give a garment more of a ‘couture’ look and feel. Here’s what the authors of Vogue Sewing (published by Sixth&Spring Books) say on the subject: “If you intend to construct a garment in the manner of the fine designers, follow their example of underlining your garment to give it beautifully controlled shape and body”. This definitely sounds like something I should be aiming for!

In the meantime there’s not much sewing going on here, couture or otherwise, because we’ve just had our kitchen ripped out ready for a new one to be installed. My sewing machine, which usually lives in the kitchen, has moved to the living room but the living room is piled high with boxes of kitchen stuff so there’s not enough room to turn around, let alone actually do anything constructive. When not involved in the madness of the kitchen construction chaos I have been spending time sorting and organizing my patterns (good!) and internet shopping for new patterns (bad!). I am, however, looking forward to getting back to actual sewing ……. oh, and having a kitchen again will be nice!

I hope you find these great tips from our 'virtual sewing circle' helpful and that your own sewing is coming along beautifully ........