Professional, easy-to-set, invisible zipper
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 ก.พ. 2025
- Only a basic sewing machine and a standard zipper foot are needed to set this easy, lined, professional, invisible zipper set in five minutes. Developed for fashion college students, the set makes matching easy. The set finishes across the top. Pattern available at cfashionedu.co...
Laurel's books are available at laurelhoffmann...
"Sewing Techniques from the Fashion Industry" is also available from Barnes & Noble:
www.barnesandn...
Laurel's fashion-technology program: LaurelHoffmann...
Instagram: laurelhoffmann4015
e-mail: laurel@cfashionedu.com
Video production by Andrew Hoffmann:
vimeo.com/user...
Interested in jacket construction? The just completed jacket books, not yet up on Laurel's website, are available from post: cfashionedu.co...
Thank you so much, Laurel. I am 70 years old and I’ve never been taught to do an invisible zipper.
Thank you so much
Lynn in Australia 😊
Hello Lynn in Australia! Invisible zippers can be tricky. It took me awhile to figure out how to work with them Good luck! But I think you will have it.
Hi Laurel - I have been sewing replacement patio furniture cushions, pillows, and drapes for many years. I recently got a new machine and decided to craft my first garment, a "painter's" jacket. Your level of expertise is way above anything I aspire to achieve, I really enjoy your videos. I appreciate your approach and "attitude" :-). I say "attitude," which means your style and approach to sewing. I usually watch your videos over lunch and often find a tip or two that I can apply to my most basic skill set. Thank you, and keep up the good work! Warmest regards and happy sewing!!! -peter-
Thank you so much for your kind words. I intend to keep at it. In fact, it's you and people like you that give me the energy to keep going.
I live in an area of the country that does not value sewing or other crafts or art. If it’s not football, it doesn’t matter. It is sad. Sorry I digress. Any chance of a video that would discuss how to pick fabrics online? Is that something you are familiar with? I suspect you live in an area where you have access to fabulous fabric shops. Just asking. Thank you!
@@peterbransche4674 I don't usually buy on line, as I prefer to see the fabric in person and feel it. We do have several good fabric stores here in Philly, but I have so much fabric in my studio - enough for at least three more life-times, that I don't fabric shop. Probably the best solution is to make a list of what you want to make, determine your personal color palette and add swatches of those colors to your list, and then vacation in an area that has good fabric stores. NYC comes to mind, but they are expensive. A trip to Paris, maybe? England? You could check out the fabric stores in several USA cities. Good luck!
@@laurelhoffmann1594 Great advice, thank you!
@@peterbransche4674 My pleasure!
This is probably a strange compliment, but you are an incredibly efficient educator. Maybe it’s the scientist in me, but I need to understand the “why” or “why not” for every “how”. You convey so much context in your teaching, whether intentionally or as an aside: that the information feels intuitive. And good intuition is so useful for troubleshooting and creativity.
Thank you so much for you comment. Drafting and sewing is an engineering discipline, so it's no wonder that you and I think alike. It was so strange when I was working in the industry. I would be shown a technique and it was as if I already knew it, as though they were just reminding me. I suspect it's the same with you.
I sew in my invisible zippers differently. I sew the seam below the zipper opening first, then sew in the zipper. It works very well. There are quite a few TH-cam videos on this method. I just find it easier and much faster to do it this way. I had always struggled with leaving the seam open below the zipper. But this video is the best explanation of this method that I have seen so far!
Thank you. There are many ways to do the same procedures. As said in the industry, "If it works, use it. If t works, you've got it right."
@@laurelhoffmann1594 Absolutely!
@@kathleenstoin671 We're on the same page, Kathleen!
Thank you!!! FANTASTIC.
Dear Sarah, Thanks for your comment. I believe that you and others should have this information.
Although I sewed all my life, it wasn't until I worked in the industry that I acquired the sewing skills that enabled me to make clothing that looked "store bought." There are many reasons why this information isn't available to people, primarily because the industry is line-assembly. Even in the industry most people don't know "how it goes." I'm trying to do something about that.
Will have a new, easier to use website up in a couple of weeks.
Will be doing a three-day master class for the ASDP (Association of Sewing and Design Professionals) in October, to be held at the Baltimore Harbor. Participants will both watch and participate in the conversion of a jacket, dress, and pant home-sewing set of patterns into patterns that would be used in high-end industrial-couture designing departments. The more difficult sewing procedures involved with the making of the three garments will be explained and/or shown. I don't think this is up on their website yet, but I may be wrong.
Lrl
My first garment and first invisible zipper certainly could have gone worse, but I hated it so much I was afraid of ever doing a zipper again -- now I feel emboldened, understanding that I simply didn't have the right instruction. Thank you SO much! (Here's to never having to sew another hook and eye if I can help it, haha! 🥂)
It's true that one doesn't have to sew a hook and eye at the top of an invisible zipper. I like that too. Thanks for your comment.
Thank you, Laurel! Great explanation and method. Putting in an invisible zipper has always confounded me - I've made do and the result has been decent, but it could be better. I will make a sample very soon using your method!
Thank you! This is my own method. I have never been able to use the invisible zipper foot with any success. My college students were addicted to invisible zippers so I needed a method they could use easily. And this is what I came up with. I use it even when I am sewing to match.
Moving by 1/16 of an inch to the left and one stitch lower is a great tip. I always buy zippers loner than the required length, no matter the type of zipper. Since the pull and the stop are a problem to sew straight in their proximity, I just place the zipper so that the pull is an inch higher than where the top of the zipper would be and the stop lower than it should be. Then I sew the zipper without having to manipulate the pull half way, then cut the excess end while securing the top and bottom so that the pull does not fall off .
THANK YOU for showing me how to do that part of the seam below the zipper. It's so frustrating to get right when you don't have a formula!!
This information needs to be out there. I struggled for years with sewing before I entered the industry. I don't see why others should have to.
I learned an easier method of inserting invisible zippers. I match the right sides of fabric and baste on the seam line from the top down to the bottom of the zipper opening, then change my stitch to a regular length for the rest of the seam. I then press the seam open. Then match back together the edges and lay the garment on the machine with the cut edge of one side only exposed. The zipper can then be sewn in place by placing the zipper teeth against the sewn seam line on the single layer of each cut edge at a time as you were demonstrating. That way there is no need to mark the fabric for placement and the seam below the zipper is already finished.
"If it works, use it; if it works, you've gotten it right." I like my method, you like yours - I don't see any problem with that. :-))
I used Wonder tape to temporarily hold my zipper in while I sew it. I find invisible zippers easier to put in than a regular zipper.
So did my college students. That's what influenced me to use them.
I love your videos thank you so much for taking the time
I have to replace an invisible zipper on a collar today. I’ve been avoiding it. There is a hood hidden in the collar. Wish me luck. I’ve only ever done it as a first step. I’ve replaced lots of zippers in things but this is a new experience.
Good luck! It sounds like a daunting project. If I get stuck I stop and do something else. That allows my subconscious mind to work through the problem. When I return to the project it then goes easier - not easy, just easier.
Wonderful instructions!
Thanks!
Beautiful. I wish I would have seen this video years ago. The top and lining procedure -- amazing. I've watched several videos on installing an invisible and by far this is the best -- very detailed.
Thank you.
I came up with this on my own because I never had any luck using the zigzag foot. I needed something that would work for my degree students. Thanks for your support.
Thank you for sharing.
@@gmurray3616 Glad you like it!
Thank you!❤
My pleasure.
Will you please make a video on how to use elastic thread and how to sew elastic aka the many ways of using and sewing elastic. Please and Thank you.
Thanks for your suggestion. In the industry elastic was always a bug-a-boo. The problems you are having with elastic are the same problems we had in the designing departments. Elastic measures one length before it is cut, another length after it is cut, and a third length after it is sewn. That is true not just for you, but for designing room personnel as well. When elastic was used one had to make a sample, see how it turned out, then correct the length the elastic was to be cut and often correct the pattern as well. The best aadvice I can give you is to leave elastic thread alone and to avoid using elastic whenever possible.
Thank you so much. I'm very grateful.
My pleasure!
Wish it was still available
Not sure what you wish was still available.
Thank you so much for your amazing video. Just too quick things, could you ask the person who edits your video to focus on the fabric and your work earlier - sometimes you start explaining things where I need to see the fabric and we're still looking at your face (which is beautiful but we still need to see the fabric). Just the second thing as well I'm not fully understanding why you moved the stitches across, perhaps, as a video idea, you could do another one where you show the moved stitches again, opening and closing and explaining it in more detail for those who need it..
Thanks for telling me this. Will copy your comments and will also pass them onto my son, who does the filming and editing.
I didn’t get this it was too quick for me. I guess I need slower pace with simpler instructions. Ty
Understood. The instructions are in several of my books - step-by-step, classroom tested over a 30 year period with novices and professionals.
Great video. I really like all the information you give along with how to make the sample. I am very interested in see how you would do a lapped zipper for pants. Thanks for sharing. jnetti
Thanks, Jeannette, for your continued support! Lrl
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Glad you like it. I wish I had had this information back when I was trying to learn to sew. It wasn't until I was in the industry that I learned how industry does it. I couldn't believe how much easier industrial methods are. Plus when one is done nobody asks, "Did you make it?"