Exposed Zipper Tutorial - For the Lazy Sewist

Yeah, so I read a Threads article on doing an exposed zipper after I attempted my first one on my own, and it seemed like tons of steps and was a little confusing to me, so I'm showing you how I do it myself. There are lots of Youtube videos and other tutorials about this, but I'd already taken all these pictures, so I'm posting it anyway. I remembered to interface the seam allowances for once, but I did it on the wrong side of the fabric as usual, while most other people seem to do it on the right side (which entails several steps to hide it under the zipper eventually, and I'm sure is superior for some reason, but I'm lazy). I basted the center back skirt seam down to the big circle, then sewed the rest of the seam below.


Now I've pressed my seam open. Note that I even finished my raw edges with the serger - I was in quite a good mood! You can't see the interfacing from inside the skirt now.


Next, I flipped it over so the right side was facing me, and I laid the zipper down, centering it over the seam.

I threw a couple of pins in there to hold it in place, but you could use double-sided tape or scotch tape...


Fold the bottom of the zipper up under the zipper stop if you like.


Now sew down the edges of the zipper. I didn't need a zipper foot for this. Be very careful at the bottom that your folded up tape is lined up nicely.


I turned at the very bottom and put 3 stitches in till I hit the zipper stop, then I started over on the other side.


To open up the basted seam, I pulled it apart at the top and ripped down the middle, since I couldn't get inside anymore to the actual seam.


Important note - be sure the basting stops before the end of the zipper! Mine went a little too far, so I had to throw some hand-stitching in there to close up this little gap. I'll also probably use a zipper foot and sew again right next to the zipper teeth.


Now at this point, I suffered some sort of back spasm, so I haven't finished the rest of the skirt yet. A hot bath, lots of time on a heating pad, and 1800 mg of ibuprofen daily for the past 3 days have me feeling better temporarily, so I shall get back up to the sewing room and finish this so I can get a nice final picture. In the meantime, here's what my first exposed zipper looked like.


And then I went nuts with the leftover zipper, and lined a seam on the front. This is still my favorite skirt because it's so obnoxious!