Lapped zipper

I am planning to talk about putting in a lapped zipper at the Burda Sewing meeting next Saturday. Thus, I figured it would be a reasonably good idea to try it out.

Ages ago, when I first learned to put in a lapped zipper, the instructions (from the zipper package) went something like (from memory):

1. Sew the seam below the zipper & baste the zipper closed
   
2. Open the seam & roll out the left side. Open the zipper & put the teeth next to the rolled out edge.
   
3. With a zipper foot, sew the left side of the zipper to the rolled edge.
   
4. Lay it all flat & sew around the outside
   
5. Remove the basting
   

Very often, when sewing the lapped part, there wasn't enough room between the stitching and the zip, so there could be this weird jog at the top of the zipper. I eventually learned to take out the basting & move the zip down while sewing the lap, so I didn't have to stitch next to it.

When I was in third grade, back in rural Arizona, our teacher was (apparently) teaching the class how to put in a zipper (sans sewing machine, I think -- just talk, no demo). She asked us what the three criteria were that showed it was done right. I don't remember the first two, but no one got the third -- that it worked. Why yes, I have sewn so close to the teeth that the zipper couldn't be zipped, why do you ask? :-)

Happily, time marches on & so does lapped zipper insertion. Connie Amaden-Crawford gives instructions for putting in a lapped zipper in her sewing book which are different & better than what I had learned. Threads also provides instructions: Sewing In a Zipper

1. Sew the seam below the zipper and press the seam open (don't baste the zipper seam)
   
2. Roll the left seam out (1/8-1/4")
   
3. With the zipper closed, sew the left side of the zipper to the rolled out seam (zip side up).
   
4. Lap the right side over the left
   
5. Starting at the bottom, sew the lap
   
6. If wanted, move the zip out of the way
   

The pictures aren't great, but:

Sew the zip to the underlap

Pin the overlap:

Sew the overlap. I decided to open the zip to start with. I used chalk to mark the sewing line. As it turned out, 5/8" from the edge was right on the edge of the zipper tape, but it wasn't too close, happily.

It opens, it shuts:

If this were the real thing, the improvements would be:

• Be careful about the placement of the top of the zipper, especially vis a vis any facing
  
• Be careful that the bottom of the lap is not exactly at the zipper stop, so I don't almost break the needle sewing through the solid zipper stop.