Sew Easy #23, How to Put in a Zipper

one of the last steps in making the dress is  putting in the zipper the zipper is put in entirely on the wrong side one of the first things  I'll do is to match the waistline seams and pin them but before I do I'd like to show you how I  stitch the blossom skirt together when I reach the side seam line I tapered down in this manner  instead of stitching straight across to the end this will allow the placket to lie smoothly at the  point where the zipper crosses the waistline seam next I'll close the zipper  opening with a basting stitch this basting stitch goes right in on the seam line and not only holds the two edges together  but will keep them from stretching you'll find you always get a smoother  finish if you'll stitch from the bottom up this could have been basted by hand but  machine stitching holds it more firmly and now to press the seam open and now before we place the zipper  in place let's look at the zipper this is a slider tab or pull which is  usually at the top right up under the arm and at the top of a dress zipper is a bridge or top stop and the teeth when closed  form the chain and here is a bottom stop the bottom stop is placed at the notch  which is the bottom of the opening where your seam is back stitched and we must  turn the zipper face down it's important for us to distinguish between the  back and front this is the back and this is the front now we want to secure  the zipper to the back seam allowance and stitch from the bottom to  the top so I'll swing this around as I bring that seam under the foot I'll slip  the bulk of the fact of the dress out of the way and we want to be sure that we put the full width  of the chain on the back seam allowance and the edge of the chain along the seam line stitch the  tape to the single thickness of the back seam using the regular presser foot and keep  the edge of the foot against the chain and let me repeat place your zipper so  the edge of the chain is along the seam line that is your guide and the full width  of the chain is on the back seam allowance it really isn't necessary for  us to pin it in place since we'll be checking the position of the  zipper chain every two or three inches for the next step I will use a zipper  foot so I can stitch close to the zipper then turn the zipper right side  up and folding a seam allowance right close to the zipper I'm going to put it off top stitching  along the fold the full length of the tape the purpose of this stitching  is to hold the zipper in place away from the seam line so it'll  be concealed when the dress is worn my first two rows of stitching  have been done from the bottom up and this last row will be done in the same  direction next we need to spread our dress and let the zipper fall in place  face down on the front of the dress and this is the direction  our final stitching will take across the bottom up along the  zipper and back across the top then we need to open our dress  and slip it under the presser foot smooth it out and be sure that you  don't catch any of the rest of the dress in your stitching I want to stitch  across the end of the zipper so I put my needle down right on this first  row of stitching this was the anchoring stitch by starting at this point on the wrong side we know the stitching will be starting  on the seam line on the right side notice this pleat when the zipper is placed  face down over the front seam allowance this pleat is formed naturally and is  necessary for concealing your zipper your needle down and turn a square corner after you turn the corner  stitch parallel to the zipper keep your dress flat and smooth as you're working as you stitch across the top  of the zipper you'll notice another pleetis farm just like at the bottom then pull this thread up to the wrong side and tie them the reason we fasten these threads by tying rather than backstitching is  that the back stitching will show on the outside and here is a method of tying  threads that i think you'll find easy now that you can see this more  clearly I'll demonstrate on a solid colored fabric and contrasting thread pull the lower thread up to the surface then hold on to both threads and tie a knot in order to get that knot right down on the  last stitch put your needle down in the loop and into the last stitch and then tighten  your knot by pulling down on the thread remove the pin hold your thumb  on the knot and tighten it then cut your threads off leaving a  quarter to half an inch at the end I press the zipper lightly on the wrong side then if you lift the back seam  allowance up you will see the long basting stitches that we'll need to remove and you turn the dress right side out and press the zipper over the tailor's ham to give it contour and here is your finished  zipper completely concealed