{"id":66984,"date":"2025-07-09T07:15:28","date_gmt":"2025-07-09T14:15:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/artquiltmaker.com\/blog\/?p=66984"},"modified":"2025-07-06T12:28:39","modified_gmt":"2025-07-06T19:28:39","slug":"reviewing-a-zipper-tab-technique","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artquiltmaker.com\/blog\/2025\/07\/reviewing-a-zipper-tab-technique\/","title":{"rendered":"Reviewing a Zipper Tab Technique"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

The other day, I talked about making some Open Wide Zipper pouches<\/a> for my mom to give to friends who have been helping her. I also talked about using the Sweet Cinnamon Roses technique to make the Zipper tabs<\/a>. After my chores and stuff were done, I set about the pouch task. One of the steps was making Zipper tabs.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\"Zipper<\/a>
Zipper tab finished<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n

I followed the Sweet Cinnamon Roses IG “tutorial”<\/a> and had mixed results.  I was making 4 at once. Two were ok and I could use them. The other two needed unsewing. I sewed too close to the zipper tape and couldn’t turn them right side out. After unsewing and sewing the two again, everything was fine. Once I gave the zipper tape some space, the technique worked pretty well. <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

What I learned is that you don’t need to sew right next to the zipper tape. It is actually better to sew farther away so there is less bulk to sew over when inserting the zipper into the pouch later.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

I suspect that I don’t even need to sew up the sides next to the zipper. I suspect that is just for convenience, or because it looks better\/ easier on the video. I haven’t tried that, so stay tuned for further results.<\/p>\r\n

Definitely watch the Sweet Cinnamon Roses IG “tutorial”<\/a>. Below are the steps I took:<\/p>\r\n

1. Find and lay out the zippers you want to use<\/p>\r\n

2. Cut some squares or rectangles of fabric about 2.5 in. by 3.5 in. I made sure I had at least .75 in. on each side of the zipper tape. This is not exact and you’ll be cutting off much of it anyway, so use scraps. These will be your zipper tabs. The longer you make your zipper tabs the more options you will have for positioning the head of the zipper. I found that a solid would have worked better for the pizza print. Having part of the print show just looked a bit weird to me. YMMV.<\/p>\r\n

3. Lay two zipper tab squares \/ rectangles on top of and under your zipper. You will be able to see the end of the zipper and the stop after you lay them out. The squares will have the zipper sandwiched in between. The zipper stop and  1- 1.5 ish in. of zipper tape will be sticking out. You are going to cut off the zipper stop, so make sure you have enough space so your needle does not hit the stops. <\/p>\r\n

\"Sew<\/a>
Sew in a U shape<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n

4. Move the zipper pull out of the way<\/p>\r\n

5. Sew in a U shape from the side where the zipper pull lives towards the zipper stops and back towards the pull. Make sure the top of the zipper tab fabric, by the zipper stops, is sewn a quarter inch away from the top. Sew far enough away from the zipper tape (on the uprights of the U) so you don’t catch it in the stitches<\/p>\r\n

6. Make sure you haven’t caught any zipper tape in your stitching<\/p>\r\n

7. Cut off the stops at the top. Use the edge of the fabric as a guide<\/p>\r\n

\"Zipper<\/a>
Zipper tab finished<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n

8. Turn the zipper tab right side out. <\/p>\r\n

9. Press<\/p>\r\n

\"Zipper<\/a>
Zipper with zipper tab inserted into pouch pieces<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n

10. Insert your zipper into your pouch or bag. In the photo of the stingray view of the pouch, you can see that I have at least 1.5 inches of extra zipper tab. I could have lined the end of the zipper tab up with the edge of the exterior pouch pieces in order to lengthen the zipper. This is a good way to eek out a little more space if your zipper is not quite long enough. <\/p>\r\n

In my case, I positioned the zipper head where I wanted it and sewed it into the pouch pieces. <\/p>\r\n

\"Zipper<\/a>
Zipper tab finished<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n

Once I turned the zip pouches  right side out, I was happy and unhappy with the results. <\/p>\r\n

I think the technique looks good. It is a useful finish for a zipper end. It came out as expected.<\/p>\r\n

What I don’t like about it is that it isn’t great for an Open Wide pouch like the Noodlehead Open Wide Pouch<\/a>. It doesn’t allow the part by the zipper to open wide. <\/p>\r\n

Lynette gave me some tips for finishing the zipper ends, so I’ll try those and see what happens. For certain types of pouches, like the Triple Zipper pouch<\/a> I sewed awhile ago.<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The other day, I talked about making some Open Wide Zipper pouches for my mom to give to friends who have been helping her. I also talked about using the Sweet Cinnamon Roses technique to make the Zipper tabs. After my chores and stuff were done, I set about the pouch task. One of the … Continue reading “Reviewing a Zipper Tab Technique”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[316,488,359],"class_list":["post-66984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-538","tag-gifts","tag-pouch","tag-tutorial"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artquiltmaker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artquiltmaker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artquiltmaker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artquiltmaker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artquiltmaker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66984"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/artquiltmaker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66984\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67053,"href":"https:\/\/artquiltmaker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66984\/revisions\/67053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artquiltmaker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artquiltmaker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artquiltmaker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}