Kitchen Sink Dyeworks

This week’s tutorial is on sewing zippers into knit and crochet pieces, which I know is a task that a lot of folks assiduously avoid because they’ve had disappointing results, or are just intimidated by the idea of all that sewing.  I say, don’t be afraid of it!  With a little bit of prep and some quiet sewing time, you can put in a nice, flat zipper closure into your knit and crochet pieces.

What you’ll need:

straight pins
sewing needle
sewing thread-one spool in a color that matches your handwork item, one in a contrasting color
a zipper in a length that matches your opening-use a separating zipper for cardigans and such, or a shorter, non-separating zipper for things like zip pouches.  For non-separating zippers, it’s ok if the zipper is longer than the opening, they’re easy to shorten.
scissors
clean, flat work surface
some quiet time to work at a relaxed pace, don’t rush it!

In these project photos, I’m working on a small zipper pouch and an easier-to-see sample swatch.  First, lay out your handwork against the zipper to determine how long you need the zipper to be for your item.  Mark this spot with a pin.  Here I’m centering the zipper about an eight of an inch in from each end.

Now, using sewing thread and a sharp needle, make a bar tack stitch by sewing over and over and over some more until you’ve built up a little bump of stitches in the spot you’ve marked. Clip threads.  See?  You’ve made your own zipper stop!  Clip the zipper 3/4 inch away from this bar tack; now you’ve got a custom length zipper.

Lay out your handwork piece on the desired side of your zipper, pin in place like this:

Now, using your contrasting thread and a long running stitch, baste your zipper in place about a quarter inch from the edge of your zipper.  Don’t knot your thread, you need to be able to yank this back out again later.  Don’t worry about aiming for perfect stitches, just aim for a nice even tension to hold the zip flat. Again, this is temporary stitching.

Now you can remove the pins, and the basting stitches will hold your zipper smoothly in place while you do your “real” stitching.  Using your matching sewing thread, sew through your fabric and the fabric of the zipper about an eight of an inch from the edge of the zipper, using a small, neat backstitch.  Remember that Paula Abdul song, “Opposites Attract”?  “One step forward, two steps back…”  Backstitch is one step forward, AKA a full stitch length with the needle coming up through the underside of the work, then a half step back, taking a small half stitch length backwards down through the layers from the top of the work.

When you do this with your matching thread, the stitches completely disappear into the knit/crochet piece:

Once you reach the end of your seam, knot the thread and weave in the end.  Now you can pull that basting thread out, and you’ll have a nice flat seam:

Here’s the back, and you can see where I didn’t quite make it through all the layers here and there (not the end of the world, I promise):

Now, for added stability and to give the inside a neat finish, I whipstitch the edge of the zipper to the back of the handwork.  Using your matching thread again, use an overcast stitch and just catch a bit of the handwork in each stitch.  You’re not going to sew all the way through the the front of the work, just on the surface of the wrong side.

Finished whipstitching:

And then you’re done!  Repeat for the other side, weave in loose threads.  For separating zippers on garments, I like to make bar tack stitches and the top and bottom of each side of the zipper to reinforce the opening.  If your item will be getting a lot of heavy use, you can opt to sew an additional backstitch seam next to each of your first seams for extra strength.

Next Friday, I’ll be posting part 2 of this tutorial, which is on sewing a lined zipper pouch.  And I’ll be releasing the pattern for these cute zipper pouches:

Tune in next week!