Tag Archives: zipper

Nov 5 2012

How to Sew in a Zipper

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Yesterday I showed how to create a bed for a dog kennel. Today I’ll show you how to sew in a zipper. I cut some pieces of fabric and drew on them to better show how to sew the central zipper in.

-To start, mark where the zipper will go because before and after the zipper a seam stitch will be sewn and where the zipper will go, I’ll do a basting stitch, or the longest stitch on my machine.

-Use pins or fabric chalk to mark the fabric. Don’t use a marker like I did, I just wanted to clearly show where to mark.

mark

mark fabric

baste

where to baste

– Pin the fabric together and baste where the zipper goes and continue with the seam stitch before and after the zipper, backstitching when I stitch the stitch length, I’m using a 5/8inch seam.

both stitches

differences in stitches

-Then iron the seam open.

iron seam

iron seam

– Then pin the zipper, face down, teeth to the seam. I placed the pins in the wrong direction. So I had to switch them so I could easily remove them as I was stitching.

zipper

pin zipper over seam

– Using a basting stitch, longest stitch on my machine, I place the edge of my zipper foot directly in the middle of the teeth and stitch, when I need to turn, I leave the needle in the fabric, lift the foot, and turn the fabric to the direction, put the foot down and begin to stitch again. I use a basting stitch to tack the zipper to the fabric and I don’t have to worry about removing pins as I sew.

– When I get to the zipper head, I make sure the needle is in the fabric, lift the zipper foot and push the zipper head past the foot.

zipper foot

zipper foot up, and push the zipper head past the foot

– Once the zipper head is out of the way, put the foot down, and continue stitching.

down

zipper foot down and continue stitching

-After the basting, stitch around the zipper with a smaller stitch size, just outside the basting stitch. Using the same technique at the corners and the zipper head.

-Once the stitching is complete, remove the basting stitch around the zipper and in the middle of the zipper.

basting

remove basting stitch

– The zipper is complete! The zipper has been successfully installed. It does take practice but it’s not as intimidating as it first appears.

zipper

zipper complete

zipper

finished

Happy Sewing!

Nov 4 2012
bed

How to Sew a Dog Bed for a Crate

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When Rusty has to go into his crate all he does is sleep. I decided to make him a bed for his kennel so he is a little more comfortable while I am away. First I gathered supplies. You’ll see that I actually bought a dog bed foam kit. I did this because I had a coupon and that made it cheaper to buy the kit than it was to get the 1.5inch foam cut to my specifications since a coupon wasn’t available for the foam you get by the yard. Then bed is an oval which is why in later pictures you’ll see that the bed has rounded corners and doesn’t extend to the corners of the kennel. Also, I put a zipper on the bed so I can wash the fabric.

Bed Supplies

  • fabric
  • sewing machine
  • ruler and measuring tape
  • scissors
  • thread to match
  • marking chalk/pencil
  • pins
  • foam
  • kennel
  • long center zipper for end of bed

First thing I did was measure the kennel floor. Then I went and bought the foam and fabric to fit the bed, so I added a few inches in length to cover all sides of the bed.Then I remeasured the kennel floor and cut the foam to fit it.

bed

measure kennel

Next I placed the fabric down, put the foam on the fabric and folded the fabric over the foam, connecting the right side edges of the fabric. I could measure, draw and cut, but this way seemed easier to me. I did make a faint line on the fabric around the edges where I wanted to cut giving myself and extra inch to sew the seam.

measure the fabric

Then I cut the fabric.

sew

Cut and Sew

Next I remove the foam, pin the fabric together, get out my machine, and sew a 5/8 inch seam along two sides of the bed. The long side is a fold in the fabric and the other shorter side is where I’ll sew a zipper.

Next I get my long center zipper out, I think it was 22 inches.  I pin it to the right side of the fabric.

zipper

Pin and Sew zipper

I change to a zipper foot on my machine and sew it in.

zipper

Zipper

Then I place the foam in the giant pillow/bed case, zip it closed, and it’s ready to go into the kennel giving Rusty a comfy bed to sleep on while I’m away.

bed

Trying out his bed

I think he likes it!