INSERTING PANTS ZIPPER
Inserting zipper in pants does not have to be as daunting as we think. Here’s my take on how.
STEP 1: PREPARE FLY FACING & SHIELD
Press fusible interfacing to the wrong side of the fly facing. In this case, i’m making a ladies’ pants, with the fly facing going to the left side. For the fly shield, press the shield into half lengthwise, with the wrong sides together.
STEP 2: SERGE OR OVERLOCK
Serge or overlock the curved edge of the fly facing. Serge or overlock one long and one short edge of the folded fly shield.
STEP 3: ATTACH FLY FACING TO PANTS
With the right sides together, match and pin the fly facing and the left pants at the centre front.
STEP 4: PRESS FLY FACING
Press the fly facing open.
Edge stitch the fly facing at 0.5cm (3/16″) away from the ditch.
STEP 5: JOIN FRONT CROTCH
With the right sides together, match and pin the two front pants together.
Seam at 1cm (3/8″) seam allowance all the way to the base of the zipper position.
The above is how it looks like on the wrong side. You can see the fly facing edge stitching is within the 1cm (3/8″) seam allowance.
STEP 6: PRESS LEFT & RIGHT FRONT
Press the fly facing to the wrong side, making sure the crease is down the centre front.
For the right front, press 0.7cm (5/16″) seam allowance to the wrong side.
If you line up the centre fronts, the right front will extend slightly beyond the left front.
STEP 7: STAY STITCH ZIPPER TO SHIELD
Line up the zipper with the shield such that:
Top stop is 1cm (3/8″) from the top edge of the shield;
The centre of the zipper is 2cm (3/4″) away from the left edge of the shield.
Stay stitch down the middle of the zipper.
Line up right front with the shield such that the folded edge of the pants is right on top of the stay stitch from Step 6.
Topstitch the right front to the shield at 0.2cm (1/8″) from the edge.
STEP 8: STITCH ZIPPER TO FLY FACING
Place the front pants flat. Pin the centre front close using pins. Alternatively, you can hand baste the centre front.
On the wrong side, pin the shield away from the fly facing. Pin the zipper to the fly facing only.
Make sure the left front is out of the way before stitching the zipper to the fly facing.
STEP 9: STITCH ZIPPER TO FLY FACING
Using the zipper foot, stitch the zipper down onto the fly facing.
Stitch a second row down the zipper to secure it to the fly facing.
STEP 10: TOPSTITCH FLY OPENING
On the right side, chalk in the topstitching for the fly opening.
Topstitch the fly opening, making sure the base at the centre front is secure by doing a couple of reverse stitches.
Make sure the shield is kept away when doing the topstitching.
STEP 11: SECURE FLY SHIELD TO FLY FACING
On the wrong side, secure the fly shield to the fly facing by making a few stitches at the base.
The insertion of the pants zipper is complete!
