Monday, December 29, 2014

TUTORIAL - PUTTING A ZIPPER INTO A PILLOW BACK


Remember this pillow?

 Here is the back, some of you asked for a tutorial.....

 So let us begin!

I can not show you the front of the pillow just yet but I can show you the back.  This is batik from Island Batik, fabric line is La Bamba.
  • My pillow top is an 18" square.  Your pillow can be any size but add 1" to the top and bottom.  In my case, I have added a 1" square on all sides in case I forget and cut the fabric the wrong way....ummmm  did I just say that?
  • So...this will be an 19" square.  
  • Cut in half

  • Then turn under 1/2" on the side you cut (both sides).  Iron
One thing I love about batiks they take to an iron marvelously...no starch is needed.


  • Now that you have both sides turned under, find the center of the zipper and center of the fabric.
  • Match zipper up to fabric.
  • Sew one side on first, then do the same thing to the next side.

  • You can glue your fabric to the zipper, pin, or like I am doing here....free floating.  
  Notice that I am not using a zipper foot.  For me it is easier to just use a regular foot.
  • Do the other side the same way.  Simple so far?



 Here it is finished.

 There is a whole on both sides of the zipper ends and so we are going to cover them now.
  • I just used some scraps about 1" wide.  Fold to the middle on both sides and iron.




  • Place the right side of the fabric strip to the right side of the pillow back fabric centering over the zipper.  Sew across as you see here.  As you can see here that the stitches are reinforced by going over them several times.


One note of caution:  Be careful of the metal brackets on the zipper.


I have my trusty Lapel Stick, use a glue stick, pins or nothing...your choice.
Flip the strip over the zipper and glue over the fabric on both sides.

  •  Top stitch down as shown here.  Then trim to match the edge of the pillow fabric.
  •   Size up your pillow back to the pillow top by placing right side facing each other.  Trim the excess fabric from the pillow back. 
  •  Sew all the way around your pillow leaving no hole.
  •   You are done!!!



Be sure to leave the zipper open some when sewing or you will have trouble opening the zipper when the pillow is done.

7 comments:

Gene Black said...

Thanks for the tutorial, Barb. I do like my zipper foot for zippers though.

Betsy said...

Thanks for this tutorial Barb. I am determined to learn to put in a zipper in 2015
Happy holidays

West Michigan Quilter said...

Great tute! Thanks Barb. My goal is to try this in 2015!

Needled Mom said...

Nice tutorial, Barb. Happy new year.

barbara woods said...

Thank you Barb, I will have to try that. Used to put zippers in dresses

StitchinByTheLake said...

Thanks for this tutorial Barb - I have a couple of pillows I want to work on today. :) blessings, marlene

Snoodles said...

This is great! Wonderful way to do it...much easier than my usual struggle. Thanks for the tutorial!