Simple Zipper Tutorial...

Sande Mayıs 27, 2022

True story. I am a zipper-phobic designer.

That's why you don't see zippers in an Elefantz design.

However, during my season as a teacher's aide in the Home Ec Dept of a boarding school (2009-11) I watched the Home Ec teacher, Jodie, use a very simple technique for inserting zippers across the bottom of bean bags.

When I was near the finish of my new cushion design this week I thought I might just jump in and use Jodie's zipper insertion method for the back closure, instead of my usual button approach.

And then I thought, "why not share it with my sweet readers too?".

So here it is...no measurements, though, as you can use this method on any size cushion.

For the back of my cushion I have two rectangles of fabric the same size.

I drew a 3/4" pencilled seam line along the width edge of one piece, then lay it right-side down onto the other piece of fabric....

Sew the two pieces of fabric together along that line.

Press the seam open.

Fold both sides of the seam under by half, and press flat with a hot iron (Jodie didn't do this step as she'd used a serger/overlocker along the edge to prevent fraying, but I think this is a neater finish)...

Pin your zipper face down along the seam, lining up the seam line with the middle of the zipper...

Sew down both sides of the zipper...

Turn the fabric over and the zipper should be hidden neatly under the seam...

Using a seam ripper remove the stitching from the seam...

Voila! A very neatly finished cushion back with the zipper sitting smartly in place...

I can't show you the new cushion design yet as I have not finished writing my ezine, and it's one of the patterns inside this next issue, but you can have a look at the zippered back...