Sewing invisible zippers can be tricky to learn, but with the correct feet and a little practice you can sew a perfect invisible zipper every time! Here’s how.
Start by opening the invisible zipper and pressing the teeth flat from the back side. This will let you sew closer to the zipper teeth or coil.
Use either a zipper foot or, even better, an invisible zipper foot like the one I’m using. Place the zipper right-side-down on the face of your fabric. You’ll probably want to pin it in place. Then sew with the zipper teeth close to the needle, down to the zipper head. Be sure to back-tack at the beginning and end of the seam.
Here I’ve sewn it down as far as I can and I’m hitting the zipper head.
Now pin the zipper to the other side of the fabric. I usually zip the zipper to make sure it’s not twisted when it gets pinned in place.
Line up notches and/or seams if you have them. Then sew from the other side of the invisible zipper foot, so you’re starting at the top of the zipper again. This helps feed the fabric evenly on both sides.
Now the critical part. Close the zipper and use a zipper foot or a cording foot, any foot that will get the needle as close to the zipper tape as possible. You really need to get close to the zipper here. With the fabrics together evenly, butt the zipper tape up to the needle as close as you can get it without sewing through the zipper seams.
Back tack just a bit above the end of the zipper stitch lines, and sew an inch or two past the zipper. The stitch is not even an eighth of an inch away from the original stitches on both sides. This will allow the fabric to fold slightly over the zipper without giving you a gap where the zipper ends.
You can change to a regular foot to finish the seam, and then press the seam open.
Can you see that little white dot in the seam? That’s where the zipper ends and the seam begins! I used a contrast thread so you could see where I was sewing, but had I used matching thread it would really be invisible 🙂
I struggled for a long time with invisible zippers. I always had a bulge at the bottom because I wasn’t using the right feet on my machine. Once you have the right foot combination you’ll be sewing perfect invisible zippers in no time!
