Invisible Zippers!

Sorry about the long break between posts, I underestimated how much time I'd be spending doing homework, cleaning, cooking, working, and most importantly sleeping.
Well, today I'm going to go through putting in an invisible zipper with you. I've met many experienced  seamstresses who hate putting these in. I think they're easy. I would estimate that I've put in or moved at least a million of these puppies in my life. (That was an exaggeration, but still quite a few.)
So, first, open the package, throw away the instructions, and heat up your iron.
Now unzip the zipper all the way and as you can see in the picture to the right, press open the zipper, making the teeth flat with the zipper tape. You should be able to see how it wants to curve toward the back of the zipper naturally, but since we want to sew as close to the teeth as possible, you want that flattened out so you don't catch any of the plastic in the stitches. It'll get curved back into place once we're all finished.

Next we want to pin the zipper to the fabric. When you are making the skirt, dress, whatever, you should stop sewing about 6-8 inches away from the waistline/top on the back seam. Make sure you do a backstich at the end, so the thread doesn't pull out at the bottom of the zipper. I've found the easiest way to figure out which side to put the zipper on is to first zip it up all the way, hold it up to the seam, and then pin it exactly how it needs to go on. You want to make the teeth face in the direction of the side seam on the skirt (to the right as seen in the picture). That way there's no confusion. Then just unzip and pin down the rest of the fabric until you get to where you reinforced the seam. It helps me to continue pinning on the seam allowance after I've passed the opening, just so I make sure I have it straight and there's no puckering when it's zipped. You are not going to sew past your opening, though. 

If you have an invisible zipper foot, you should put that on your machine. Otherwise, a regular zipper foot will work fine. I always start from the base of the zipper while sewing. I find it makes it smoother that way, and less likely to be off from the other side.You want to put the needle down right next to the teeth of the zipper, leaving just enough room for the zipper pull to get through. As you sew, check your stitches to make sure you're not catching the plastic in (right).

 Now that we have the first side sewn, zip it up and repeat the "lining up" procedure for the next side. Pin it all the way down, making sure you line up the bottom seam to the same spot on this side of the zipper, as it was on the other side. See pictures below.

.

  Now you want to lay the garment inside-out, reach in-between the fabric and the zipper, and zip it up. If you zipper is too long, you can just cut it off about 2 inches below the stitching. I use pinking shears, or you can get real fancy and sew a piece of ribbon on the end to prevent fraying. Press the zipper flat from the inside first, then flip it over and press from the outside. Here's the finished product: