SMART ZIPPER TAB PLUS
That way, both edges would be neat without me burning my fingers trying to press down tiny little folds.Ĭut a strip of fabric 1.5″ wide, and long enough for both zip ends plus a little extra. Instead of folding tiny bits of this linen in on itself, I made a strip that I could cut to size. The second method involves a fabric strip that is not sewn into the side seam.Ī heavier fabric (even leather or vinyl) is fine for this method, since it won’t add any bulk to the side seams. In the image above, the green fabric is 1″ wide and 2″ long.įold the tab in half lengthwise, and stitch the fabric to the zipper in the crease, so the stitch is hidden. Anything heavier would be too bulky to sew into the side seam.Ĭut a rectangle of fabric that is just as wide as your zipper tape, and twice that amount in length. It’s really important that you choose thin fabric for this job I used quilting cotton without any interfacing. The first method involves a thin fabric tab that will eventually be sewn into the side seam of the bag, and fold up over the end of the zipper. Your sewing machine will sew over narrow plastic teeth easily, but metal teeth are a different matter! Sew in the zipper stop by hand on a metal zipper, or use a zipper repair kit to insert a new metal stop and then remove the excess zipper teeth. Make sure to open the zipper first so your zipper pull is in between your new stops! That way, you avoid both metal stops when it’s time to sew up the sides.
If you just want to shorten a zipper without using fabric tabs, measure and mark your finished bag width from the top zipper stop.īut if you want to make fabric tabs, you’ll want to first create two new thread stops somewhere in the middle of the zipper, as seen on the pink zip above. You don’t need fancy tools to make a new stop! Just use the zig zag stitch on your machine: make sure to set the stitch length very short, and the width *just* big enough so that your machine needle pierces the zipper tape, not the teeth. One was born that way, and the other I made into a 4″ zip by creating a new zipper stop out of thread.
If I start with a 4″ zipper and then add fabric tabs, my bag will be much too small in the end.īehold above: two 4″ zippers. The first thing you need to know is that you’ll need a zipper longer than the bag opening you want to have in the end. Part 1 was all about installation, and part 2 was about making the corners flat.īoth methods start with the same step, shortening the zipper. In this part of the “perfect zippers” series, I’ll show you 2 ways to make those little tabs to cover your zipper stops. I usually don’t make fabric tabs for the ends of my zippers, but sometimes it’s a nice way to add detail or a bit of color.
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