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I was afraid of zippers for a long time, until I figured out this easy way to sew a zipper that probably would get me kicked out of the Proper Sewists Club. It doesn’t involve basting or anything fancy, but works just fine for a lot of projects.
Choosing a Zipper
Before you can sew a zipper you need to choose the right kind of zipper for your needs. The projects I’m showing here are pillowcases and bags, and I used Coat & Clark brand polyester “all purpose” zippers for both of them. The tape on the sides of the zipper is polyester and the teeth are nylon, which makes them strong and flexible, and as you might guess from the name, good for a lot of different purposes.
This standard kind of zipper is non-separating, meaning the end is closed and doesn’t totally split apart. This is fine for pillows, bags and many garments, but for outerwear like coats and zip-up vests you’ll want a separating zipper.
There are other materials that your zipper can be made out of, including metal teeth for heavier duty applications, or plastic for outdoor projects and children’s gear. You can also buy invisible zippers, where the teeth don’t shown when the zipper is closed; two-way zippers that have two pulls that can go in both directions; or reversible zippers that can work from either side for reversible garments.
The basic, all purpose zipper you can buy at the craft store is probably what you’ll use most often in your sewing career.
The other main consideration is the length of your zipper. Zippers are commonly available in lengths ranging from 7 to 24 inches/17.78 to 60.96 cm, with the most common lengths being 12 and 24 inches (30.48 and 60.96 cm).
The length of a zipper is just the part where the teeth are. If you’re working from a pattern it will tell you what size zipper you need, otherwise you can choose one that’s the length you need for your project. You can also use a zipper that’s longer than you need and shorten it.
How to Shorten a Zipper
It turns out that for both of the projects shown in this post I used 24 inch/60.96 cm zippers but I didn’t need them to be that long. If your zipper is too long, here’s how to shorten it.
Lay the zipper against the project and mark where you want the zipper to end.
Using a piece of sewing thread doubled, hand sew across that line, going over and under the coils as you go. The zipper package says to do this eight to ten times.
Then just cut off the excess, leaving about half an inch (1.3 cm) of tape beyond where you stitched.
Just for fun I also tried doing this after the zipper was installed, and it works the same way. Just sew across the zipper beyond where the zipper on the project ends (you can also sew into the seam to make it even more secure) and then trim out the excess.
The Zipper Foot
The key to sewing a zipper is a special foot for your sewing machine called a zipper foot. Different types of machines have different styles of feet, so if you don’t know what the one for your machine looks like, check your manual.
My machine helpfully has a diagram showing the different feet and what they are for. They’re also letter coded so I know the E foot is the zipper foot.
If you don’t have a zipper foot for your machine, search online for your particular machine and zipper foot, because there may be a special way the feet are attached to the machine or a particular style that’s used. On some machines, for example, you can change the position of the needle as you sew each side of the zipper, where on others you may need to change the position of the foot.
The main job of the zipper foot is to enable you to get close to the teeth of the zipper without sewing over them.
How to Sew a Zipper
Open the zipper up and pin one side of the zipper tape to the corresponding side of the project, right sides together. It might take a little thinking to figure out the right way to do this so that the zipper will face the right way and the other side of the zipper is in the right place to sew to the other side of the fabric, but it’s not too tricky.
If you want you can measure the seam allowance, fold it over and iron with a hot ruler. Then you can pin the zipper to that (right side of the zipper to the right side of the seam allowance) and sew it that way, making sure you’re just stitching through the seam allowance.
Make sure the zipper foot is on your machine. I like to work so that the foot is on top of the teeth of the zipper, so here I started with the needle on the right side of the foot.
I start with the zipper open and as you can see the teeth of the zipper are under the other side of the foot.
Once you’ve sewn a little bit you can stop sewing and pull the zipper up gently past the foot so that you’re not trying to sew around it.
Finish sewing this side of the zipper.
Repeat on the other side. I switched the foot to the other side so that the teeth would be under the foot again. I don’t know if this is necessary, but it makes me feel better so I do it that way.
Some people sew zippers with the zipper closed the whole time, and that’s fine, too. This is really just about making it easy for you and getting you over your fear of how to sew a zipper.
When you’re done you can sew down the little flaps at the top of the zipper if you want; just make sure they’re well out of the way so they don’t inhibit zipping (ask me how I know).
Since this zipper is installed in a seam where the edges weren’t finished, I also zig-zagged the edge when the zipper was installed to prevent fabric fraying.
This zipper was sewn into an already made pillowcase with a finished edge, so I didn’t have to do anything after sewing it in.
Of course zipper installation can be more complicated than this if you are sewing into a garment and have multiple layers or facings or other details. If a pattern tells you a particular method for how to sew a zipper in that project, go with that method.
But for quick and easy zipper installation, especially if you’ve been afraid to sew zippers because you think it’s complicated, this easy method is totally good enough.
Have you sewn zippers before? Do you use a different method? I’d love to hear about it!
