December's Dare: Zippers!

At today's meeting we had a great time showing off the things we completed.  I am afraid I exposed myself as a "show-off" but I am so delighted to have some things finished!  (I will post my personal entry soon.) 

In our discussion last month we decided that we all need a refresher in zippers, so we did a little example and talked about what seems to go wrong (and a few ideas on how to fix them.)  What do you think of our fabric choices?

The first revelatory idea was that the edge of the zipper does not HAVE to start at the edge of the item.  (see the pic here!)  No one can get the stitching perfectly straight while working around the bulky tab.

We also talked about different pinning techniques, basting and even using a glue stick (suggestion from HERE.)  (This linked blog also includes a hilarious pep talk about how you can do it...and how the zipper foot isn't as intimidating as you might think....)

Other ideas include using 1/2 inch tape down the right side of the garment/item to give you a 1/4 stitching guide on either side of a centrally placed zipper, not waiting until the very end to put the zipper in to minimize chances for catching other parts of the item and having to pick out, etc.

There is a great list of tutorials available online HERE  Note the date, however.  This list was made years ago, so there may be a number of other great tutorials on YouTube etc at your fingertips by simply searching for "zipper sew tutorial."  :)  We actually watched THIS which does a nice job of explaining how to do (at least the first part) a "lapped" zipper (shown on the left) in contrast to a centered application.  This sample is the first time I ever tried it and the tutorial was very helpful!

So, amid all your other adventures this Holiday Season, we dare you to put a zipper in something...anything.  That is all. k.