RTW-Style Zipper Facings

Drop your needle into the fabric right after the teeth.

Prepare your garment facings.

Photo: Ann Steeves

One of my goals as a teacher is to help my students achieve professional results in their garments. Here is a way to ensure that necklines and waistbands that have a faced, zippered openings turn out great. Usually, commercial pattern instructions tell you to insert the zipper, attach the facing, and understitch. Then the instructions read, "Turn the facing to inside, turning under and slipstitching side edges. Press."

In the ready-to-wear (RTW) world, facings are never finished by hand. Rather, they are sewn by machine to the zipper, which is usually an invisible zipper. This is actually a faster and very professional-looking finish, and it's easy for anyone to achieve on a home sewing machine. Let's take a look.

First, prepare your garment facings (shown at the top of the photo below), and insert your invisible zipper according to the manufacturer's instructions.