Let's Talk Zippers

As a part of my challenge, I embarked on the chapter of zippers. Zippers are one of those parts of the garment construction that show the craftsmanship of the sewer. Proper application is therefore necessary to avoid the home-sewn look.

I never had any major issues with zipper construction as such, but zippers with facing, now that's another story. That is why I decided to practice the zippers with facing.

The first zipper I made is a centered zipper with facing. For the instructions I used this tutorial I found on Fashion Incubator. And I got the best results I have ever gotten. Honestly, perfection!

The second zipper I made is a lapped zipper with facing. Again I used the instructions found on Fashion Incubator. And again, I got perfect results.




Then I also did a decorative or visible zipper. The topstitching here is kind of wonky, I apologize for that, but since it's a practice piece, I didn't really bother re-doing it.



For the invisible zipper application I used Els' tutorial. I have been using this technique ever since I saw it and I always got amazing results.

Those were relatively easy. I had some issues with the fly-front zipper. In all the books and online tutorials I found instructions for application of the zipper where the fly extension is already a part of the garment piece. However, in all my pattern drafting books I found the instructions stating that fly extension pieces should be cut separately, not as part of the garment piece. Then I found instructions for this kind of application in a Slovene sewing book I own, well, it is the only sewing book published in Slovene worth mentioning (hmm, maybe I could translate one of the English sewing books in Slovene). Anyhow, I decided to master this kind of application and make a tutorial. I ended up improving the technique :) I will post the tutorial a bit later.