How To Put A Zip In It - reviving coat of the day 482
A zip / zipper sewn into a wrap-around coat. Photo by Angela Lansbury.
What Is A Zip
In England we say zip. Americans say zipper. This is a rare occasion when it is the Americans who use the long word, and the British use the shorter word. Mostly it is the other way round.
Who Needs A Zip?
I sewed a zip in a coat. I had been meaning to do this for years. What stopped me?
My old, warm, hooded coat was brown, a colour which no longer suits me. I kept meaning to throw it out or give it away.
But it was useful to wear in the garden where it protected me from brambles and thorns on roses, from biting gnats. It kept me warm. It and stopped me getting too wet when I went out to the garage. That is what it did most of the time.
However. it did not protect me enough all the time. On one occasion I got snagged by thorns, my legs scratched and a nice skirt was torn. The next time, I got bitten by insects. I was not happy.
I was still not prepared to jettison the coat, nor to replace it by demoting a good coat to dirty garden work.
Instead, what I wanted, I decided, was a long, open-ended zip.
Types Of Zip
One day, I got out my spare zips. Most were too short. Too fragile.
I had long ones from discarded dresses, or stronger ones from suitcases and bags which had fallen apart. But they were not open-ended.
What I needed was a long, strong, open ended zip.
Price and Source
I remembered looking for long zips in a department store in Watford, north west London. The range of colours was smaller in the longer zips. The long zips were expensive, as much as a cheap dress with a zip. The open ended zips were even dearer.
However, I am now into online shopping. I searched online for a brown, heavy duty, open ended zip. Did I want metal, which might snag fabric.
Plastic would be softer. Would it be strong enough? Would it look cheap?
I preferred plastic to metal. When I saw some zips promoted as being for coats, and strong, heavy duty, I thought, that's what I need.
I compared prices. I only saved a little, but enough to make me willing to make a purchase.
Sewing Challenges
A couple of days later the zip arrived in a small plastic envelope. The label tell me the despatch date was the 20th of January and it arrived today, the 23rd.
No instructions. But I know how to sew in a zip. By hand.
I once sewed the two halves of the zip separately in a handbag. When I reached the end of the second half I discovered that I had sewn one half upside down.
I fixed my long ip it in place on the front of the coat with large safety pins. I made sure the zip was not twisted.
I checked that the zipper pull was the right way up, on the outside.
I checked that the top was high enough on the coat, slightly above chest level to keep me warm, and the end of the zip was low enough below the knee. I made sure the two sides of the coat were the same height either side of the zip.
I checked where to sew it. Under the edge of the coat. Not too far from the edge, not too near. No risk of catching fabric in the zip.
The edge was thick. Not thin fabric which would catch in the zip. Not so thick that I had to struggle to get the needle through it. However, I could more easily sew just beyond the thick, braided, edge of the coat.
It didn't matter if the zip showed. I didn't need to worry about the coat being too tight or too baggy.
I matched up the brown cotton. Hard to see. I sewed at night. I used a needle threader.
Types of Sewing Needle - Self-threading
I used a self-threading needle with a valve at the top. They feel spiky at the end. You should really wear a thimble. But I really like the convenience and speed of a self-threading needle.
It took me an hour. I was very pleased with the result.
I am now wondering what else I have which could benefit from a zip.
The label says I bought a Chunky Open Ended Zip Plastic Teeth, Brown 65 cms. 25 colours. 12 zipper lengths.
My zipper came from Zipper Station. Unit 2, Glenfuras House,18 Beraghmore Road, Skeoge Industrial Estate, Derry, Londonderry BT48 8SE UK.
ZSUK Ltd
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