Sew: How To Add A Tab To A Zipper {And How Shorten It Too}

When I was learning to sew, a wise sewist told me to always buy zippers on sale and to buy them long because they can always be shortened. I took this to heart and bought a 3kg post bag full of zips for $50 from a store going out of business. It’s great because I have a selection of colours and sizes on hand (nothing worse than having to stop sewing to go buy a zip). But even with my stash, sometimes I don’t have the right length.

Shortening a zip is easy peasy! Since I’m mostly putting a zip into a skirt, it’s nice to add a little tab at the end. It protects your legs and stockings from nasty scratches and I think it looks sweet. I love nice interior details like contrast bias binding and Hong Kong seams and fun linings. So let’s make a zipper tab….

• Cut a little scrap of fabric 2″ wide by 4″ long usually works for me
• Fold it in half right sides together. Now fold each raw edge back a little on each side. Press or finger press or even pin if you fancy.
• Sew a line of stitches down each side of the tab.

• Clip the corners and trim down the seam allowances.
• Turn right side out and poke out the corners. Press or finger press.
• Mark where you want the zipper to stop. From there work out where you need to cut the zip, a little longer to account for the tab. Use paper scissors (this will ruin good fabric scissors!) to trim down the zip.

• Tuck the zip into the tab and align the opening with the mark on your zip
• Stitch along the tab opening (be careful sewing over the zipper teeth) and continue sewing around the tab.
• Now it’s ready to be sewn in!

And that’s it! You can now sew it into whatever you’re making. This zip was destined to be sewn into this skirt. Don’t you just love the fabric? As a crazy cat lady, I was thrilled to receive it as an early birthday present from my amazing mum. It reminds me of late 50’s or early 60’s lino cut barkcloth and the colour is perfect! The skirt is my usual half circle skirt but cut in two pieces because of the directional print. Since the fabric was a birthday gift, I sewed this up on my actual birthday (way back in November) and wore it brunch with my mum and sister. I love this skirt so much! Now you know it has a nicely finished zip inside and you could have one in your next project too xx