Tutorial, part 15 - Zipper and Hook-and-Eye Closure

Cut off the excess zipper tape from the top of your jacket zipper.

Apply liquid fray preventer to the top of the zipper tape.

Unfold the trim. 

Unzip the zipper. 

Place the left half of the zipper underneath the left zipper trim so that the bottom of the zipper is flush with the bottom of the jacket and the zipper teeth are just inside of the crease. Pin and baste the zipper into place. 

Repeat the process for the right half of the zipper and the right zipper trim. 

NOTE: The zipper should extend from the bottom of the vest to ½" below the top of the front opening.

If your jacket zipper is longer than that, you will need to cut it down to size. You can simply pull the metal brackets off of the top and replace them accordingly, or you can do a bar tack (i.e. zig-zag stitch with the stitch length set to 0) over the top of the zipper to keep the zipper pull from coming off. 

Once satisfied with the zipper's placement, sew the zipper to the underside of the zipper trim, reinforcing the stitch on each side of the bottom of the vest and leaving the top ½" to 1" of the zipper hanging free - that is, do not sew it to the zipper trim! Reinforce the stitching at the point where the zipper is left free. 

It may take a few tries to find that "sweet spot" where the zipper is completely hidden underneath the zipper trim, but it doesn't pull the fronts together so tightly that the zipper trims mash up against each other.

Fold the zipper trim (with the zipper attached) back under the vest, then fold it in half again, the way you would narrow hem a garment (so that it essentially forms double-fold bias tape). Pin in place.

"Stitch in the ditch" along the outer edge of the body zipper trim with black thread, and along the outer edge of the yoke zipper trim with gray thread.

Hand-stitch a hook-and-eye closure (or two, as the case may be) at the inside top of the vest to close the space above the zipper.

It is worth noting, however, that even on the screen-used vests, the zippers were occasionally visible, so don't fret if it's not quite perfect.

DS9, 6x18 "Inquisition"

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