No Longer Afraid Of Zippers

Armed to the teeth with books, manuals, and even the little paper that came in the pack, I confronted
my greatest sewing fear.

Head on without wavering....

I confronted....

and conquered.....THE ZIPPER!!!

Just a few notes for other beginners.

* Patterns aren't sized like store sizes. They are smaller. At least the pattern I had was smaller. When I tried it on Tera for the first time it was too small. So, look at the measurements for the size of a pattern.

*I managed to salvage the too small skirt since it was way too long for Tera. The yoke was already sewed on. I cut the yoke and a couple of inches off of the top of the skirt carefully following the curve. Then I drew a pattern for a larger yoke and facing using the top of the skirt as a guide. I read in a book that if a waist was a little too small you could carefully trim the top to make it larger. They said a little goes a long way.

* I used tape to secure the zipper in place while I sewed it in.

*Putting a zipper in was really easy looking back on it. You stop sewing the seam right at the point where the zipper will be and clip the fabric 1/4 an inch at a 90 degree angle. Next baste (basting is using wide stitches that are easily removed to hold fabric closed or together) the zipper opening closed following the seam line. Then iron the basted seam open flat like a butter fly. Line up the zipper along the opening and tape in place. Turn over and sew the zipper in place, about 1/4 an inch on either side of the zipper opening. Sew a little line across the bottom of the zipper. Put and eye and hook at the top. Voila...You're done.