Londa’s Fly Front Zipper Application
LONDA’S OWN FLY FRONT ZIPPER APPLICATION
As stated at the beginning, this application has been made FREE and utilized in social marketing to market the amazing value of my Talking Patterns™.
For the talking instructions for this application, please go to this FREE Gallery:
There you will Find ALL the photographs AND my talking directions waiting for you!!!
http://www.londas-sewing.com/gallery/28/
VERY Hidden Fly Front Zipper
I’ve made more than my share of pants through the years – for myself, my son and husband, in custom dress-making, and in MANY classes. This is my own technique … hammered out from all that experience.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Always use a 9″ nylon col zipper – even if you really want only a 7″ (or less) long zipper. You’ll see why…. (similar to the Lapped Application).
ALTER the pattern so that the center front line of the pant is on STRAIGHT GRAIN. You can see in Photo z1 below that the front seam is NOT on perfect straight grain.
Slash along seam line and spread so that the center front seam line IS on straight grain as you see I’ve done in Photo z2 below. This will increase the width around the front some – but just increase the size of the dart or take in the side seam to adjust accordingly. See z-1 and z-2 online at http://www.londas-sewing.com/gallery/28/
1. CUTTING – Change pattern so that you have a 2″ extension from the center front SEAM line and 9″ long. See Photo -z3 at http://www.londas-sewing.com/gallery/28/
Fold the extension back on the original cutting line of the top edge of the pattern to trace the line as shown in Photo z-4at http://www.londas-sewing.com/gallery/28/
2. MARK -by making a snip at the top edge as shown in Photo z-5 at http://www.londas-sewing.com/gallery/28/.
POINT A which is the Center Front (CF) seam line.
POINT B which is 5/8″ out into the extension from Point A.
POINT C which is on the seam line, 3/4″ above the intersection of the extension and the crotch cutting line.
See Photos z-5 and z-6 at http://www.londas-sewing.com/gallery/28/
3. INTERFACE the right front zipper extension area to give it some ‘oomph’ needed as shown in Photo z-6 at http://www.londas-sewing.com/gallery/28/.
FINISH the edges of the extensions and front crotch edges with serging or small turn back and stitching.
4. Stitch the center front crotch seam from POINT C to within1″ from the cut inseam edge. The entire crotch seam should be sewn AFTER the inseams are joined, for wearing comfort. See Photo Z-7 at http://www.londas-sewing.com/gallery/28/
5. Press extensions as they will lay:
LADIES ‘ zippers should lap right over left – to match our tops (directions follow).
MEN’S zippers should lap left over right – to match their tops.
Press 1 3/8″ under on LEFT front, or a line from the clip at Point B down to the raw crotch line edge. See Photo z-8 at http://www.londas-sewing.com/gallery/28/
Press under 2″ on the extension on the RIGHT front, or a line from the clip at Point A down to Point C. See Photo z-9 at http://www.londas-sewing.com/gallery/28/
Now…get situated for easy sewing: attach zipper foot to the left of the needle. Lay your work with the top edge of the fabric towards you. ALWAYS stitch from the bottom to the top of the zipper for EACH step.
6. Lay the folded underlap on the left front next to the left side of the zipper coil, placing the bottom tab of the coil below POINT C. See Photo z-10 at http://www.londas-sewing.com/gallery/28/
Stitch 1/8″ from the fold with the zipper foot on the left of the needle. Adjust the needle so that it is over to the right (On my Brother Quattro 3 I used the stitch width button to put it all the way to the right at 7mm setting.) In fact, on my machine, I realized I could just guide the metal right hand side of the foot along the fabric folded edge as you see the pin pointing to in the Photo z12. Now you see why a 9″ zipper is best: the tab will be laying way up off the edge of the pant at the top edge, so there will not be any ‘bump’ for you to maneuver around. Remember, stitch from the bottom to the top. See Photo z-12 at http://www.londas-sewing.com/gallery/28/ In Photo z-13 at http://www.londas-sewing.com/gallery/28/ you can see that I’ve chalked in where the curved final stitching will go – completely missing the lower metal tab of the zipper due to the directed placement further DOWN. Yes, eventually you’ll be stitching THROUGH the zipper coil at the bottom.
7. Lay the overlap, or right side seam down over the left side, matching up POINT A clips. See Photo z-14 at http://www.londas-sewing.com/gallery/28/ Pin through all the layers on the fold as it will lay when finished. Fold the right side of the pant over to the left. With zipper foot now to the right side of the needle, stitch through the zipper tape and the right front extension as it lays on top of the zipper. You will be able to ‘feel’ the teeth through the extension, so the stitching will be able to place right along the right edge of the zipper coil. See Photo z-15 at http://www.londas-sewing.com/gallery/28/
8. Flip the right side of the pant back over to the right, so the right side is up. Topstitch through all layers 1 1/2″ from the center front fold, beginning with a curve at bottom POINT C. The bottom zipper stop should be below POINT C, causing no problems in stitching. It is easy to stitch right through the nylon zipper coil. Leave long threads so that they can be pulled to the inside and knotted. Use the Chakoner to sketch in this bottom curve and straight line on which to stitch. See Photo z16. You could even create a cardboard stitching template to use over and over in this situation.
9. Stitch along the curved and straight line you have chalked, starting with a ‘stitch in place tie-off stitch, and going through ALL layers. See Photo z-17. As you stitch, consciously ease the fabric up towards the needle and up to the north east as shown in Photo z-18 … again, both photos are found at: http://www.londas-sewing.com/gallery/28/ to prevent this side from ‘schootching up’ and becoming longer. The fact that you changed this all to be on the straight grain will help immensely here, and also will reduce diagonal pulls in the fly front zipper area.
10. You can see in Photo z20 how hidden, ‘back inside’ the fly front zipper this application is! Photo z-21 shows pulling the thread from the front to the back at the bottom of the curved stitching and knotting for security. Thread the long threads on a needle and ‘bury’ them within the layers instead of cutting close to the knot. Find all photographs at: http://www.londas-sewing.com/gallery/28/
11. Be SURE to have the tab pulled down, or the zipper open, when the waistband is applied. The waistline seam will be sewn right over the zipper coil, shortening it exactly – leaving no unsightly hole between the top of the zipper and the bottom of the waistband.
Following the rule of stitching from the BOTTOM to the TOP of the zipper for EACH and EVERY Step will definitely ‘professionalize’ your fly front zipper application technique!