ALERT! ALERT! My mind has officially been blown by a zipper and some Scotch tape. Simultaneously, my life just got 12.4% easier. And yours can too!
Seriously, you know how putting the zipper in a dress is the last big thing you do . . . really making you feel like the project is nearing completion? But zippers can be frustrating. Of course, in defense of the zipper that frustration is more often than not the result of your own decision to go ahead and get the zipper in when you should have quit for the evening.
Most of the time it is late at night and you are already pushing the limits of what you are mentally capable of. You have lost your temper once already because you ran out of bobbin thread at a most inopportune time. You ran out of bobbin thread because you mistakenly left the stitches on super-long and had to redo the whole skirt which was basted together. AND you had to cut out those stitches with your scissors because all three seam rippers were nowhere to be found. I won't even get you started on breaking your second to last needle on a hidden pin.
Well, no more!
Seriously, you know how putting the zipper in a dress is the last big thing you do . . . really making you feel like the project is nearing completion? But zippers can be frustrating. Of course, in defense of the zipper that frustration is more often than not the result of your own decision to go ahead and get the zipper in when you should have quit for the evening.
Most of the time it is late at night and you are already pushing the limits of what you are mentally capable of. You have lost your temper once already because you ran out of bobbin thread at a most inopportune time. You ran out of bobbin thread because you mistakenly left the stitches on super-long and had to redo the whole skirt which was basted together. AND you had to cut out those stitches with your scissors because all three seam rippers were nowhere to be found. I won't even get you started on breaking your second to last needle on a hidden pin.
Well, no more!
For fun (and sometimes learnin') I was perusing a beginning sewing book and the instructions for zipper-putting-in were to simply tape the zipper to the wrong side of the fabric at the back seam and then sew on the right side.
Yes, you read it right, but here it is again presented in a slightly different manner: Tape (Tape!) the zipper on the back seam inside the dress. Flip. Sew on the outside. Sew OVER the tape.
Do you understand what this means? No pins to work around or forget to remove or break the needle on. No basting stitches to pull out - if that's how you do. AND you get the added benefit of sewing on the outside of the garment - so you can watch and make sure the stitches look perfect. These are the ones you see after all.
Well now I am just too excited to sleep, which is good because I have some zippers to install.
Yes, you read it right, but here it is again presented in a slightly different manner: Tape (Tape!) the zipper on the back seam inside the dress. Flip. Sew on the outside. Sew OVER the tape.
Do you understand what this means? No pins to work around or forget to remove or break the needle on. No basting stitches to pull out - if that's how you do. AND you get the added benefit of sewing on the outside of the garment - so you can watch and make sure the stitches look perfect. These are the ones you see after all.
Well now I am just too excited to sleep, which is good because I have some zippers to install.
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