Open Top Lap Zipper Part II

Avoiding Zipper Hell Part IV

The best laid plans of Mice and Men/Go oft awry (Robert Burns, translated)

Every mark was checked all the way up.  But..............

 The top stop was in the needle's path, and the needle broke.  This has never happened before but it is good timing!  It goes to show that things can go wrong and all is not lost.  So, once I stopped being irritated it was time to fix the situation.

Before I could go any farther I needed to absolutely locate the top zipper stop.  The method I chose was to put a pin on either side of the stop, all the way through to the right side so I could decide my next step.  There were three things I thought of, bad, better and good.  I'll start with the bad idea;

While I knew this wasn't going to be successful, it's still useful to show; when I marked the new stitching line, heading toward the pin on the inner side of the zipper stop, it looked pretty good.  But, as expected, the stitching line crossed the coils and so the zipper could not completely close.  Next idea!

 Then I marked and sewed outside the zipper stop.  This one is OK.  Shown here with the hook and eye put in, it lays smoothly.  With everything matching, this would be fine.  The last solution is really the best one.

This solution involves moving the zipper tape a little inwards so the regular stitching line would miss the top zipper stop.  First I re tacked the middle seam, this time by hand, then removed about 2 1/2" of the stitching holding the zipper to the seam allowance.  The stitching that shows on top has also been removed. As you can see, the left side has already been hand finished.  Imagine how nice this looks when the fabric and thread match =)

Here the zipper has been shoved over a little to the left and pinned down only to the seam allowance.  It will not stay in this position by itself, unlike the first time around.  I used the vertical pin to get the zipper where I wanted it and then put in the horizontal pins in order to get it to stay.  I still remove those pins just before sewing over them.  Sew this side of the  zipper down to just the seam allowance, again.

 Obviously, I did this a little sooner in the game, but didn't want to interrupt the flow.  Crank the flange over and tack it down. Then pin up the seam allowance on the lining, pin it down and do an invisible stitch just onto the zipper side.  Be sure no stitches show on the other side!  Usually I do this just about last.
 

 This zipper flange is not long enough to just wrap over the top of the seam allowance.  So, the solution I used was to get a 1 1/2" piece of seam binding and stitch it to the zipper side.

 Pull this little piece of seam binding over the top of the seam allowance to the back and tack it down.  While I was there I tacked the dangling threads left over from finishing that edge.  All nice and tidy.

 Using the same distance from the seam line as if the needle had never broken, mark all the way to the top.  Check for the coil on each mark just like before.

 Double check the placement of the zipper stop by putting a  pin on the outside of it to see if the stitching line is workable.  Ah.  Success!  Pin the fabric down, like before so nothing moves.  Remove the marking pin.  On the right side of the fabric, stitch the zipper down following the marks and starting 1/4 to 1//2 before the end of your other stitching line.  In other words, still stitching from bottom to top.  I do not back tack as this makes things show too much.

As before, undo the tacking in order to stay on the marked line and not have trouble with the zipper tab.

 Check to be sure the tops line up.  After all this work, it would be beyond frustrating if they didn't.

 Grab a needle and thread and tack at least the top of the finished seam on the right down.  Sometimes I tack the entire length just as a quality thing to do.  It is not necessary.

On the lap side, attach a small hook as close to the top as you can.  I run a few threads around the hook part and through the fabric to make sure the thing cannot wiggle around and be difficult when put to use.

On the other side, opposite the hook, make a few rounds of thread using a spacer.  This will be the 'eye' of the hook and when made in a color that matches the garment, is never noticeable.  A darning needle or eyeglass screwdriver does a nice job.

After going around 3 or 4 times, start making knots all along the loop to strengthen it.  Do this until you can't cram even one more on the loop.  Then, go through your fabric to the back and tie off your thread in an inconspicuous place.

Here is the finished zipper closed and hooked.

 

Here is the zipper opened so you can see it really is the red zipper in there.  In this day of diminishing choices for sewers, you may very well find yourself having to use a zipper that isn't quite the right color.  Isn't it nice to know that no one will ever know?


Many heartfelt thanks and my deepest gratitude to Fancy Ruff-Wagner (the best sister in the world!) of Creative Memories for endless help on photo editing.   http://www.mycmsite.com/sites/fruffwag