How to Shorten a Zipper

I love making zipper pouches but unfortunately, a lot of the time, I never have the right zipper that I need for my project. So today, I would like to show you how to shorten a zipper and to add these nice little tabs to make it nice and pretty when you are doing your zipper pouches. I usually have a big zipper like this and obviously, this is not gonna work at all. So what we want to do is have our zipper and of course, you cannot do this with a metal zipper. This is for the plastic zippers, the acrylic ones. So we will take our zipper and you need to cut two pieces of fabric approximately two inches by four inches, and you're gonna fold those in half and press them. And those will be on the ends of our zipper. So you're gonna take your project whatever size it may be. This can be any size at all. Today, I am using this size and so I need to see what size I need this zipper to be. So I always start with the head of my zipper and I'm gonna open it up to get past this little metal piece, right here, if I have room. If not, I can actually leave it closed and then I can butt this up against here and just trim this side over here. But, if I have plenty of room what I like to do is open this up and get past this so I don't have to worry about my needle breaking, sewing over here. So I'm just gonna open my zipper up just a tad and I wanna pinch this together a little bit. And I'm gonna take one of these, I'm gonna take the folded edge and I'm gonna butt it right up against the head of my zipper, like so. And we're just gonna take a pin on either side to secure it. And it gets a little puckery right here, so I just kinda push it under. Make sure it's butted up and then lay it back down. And secure that side, also. So we have one side, now we need to do the other side. So what I do is I take a ruler or my mat, whatever. What we're trying to find is one inch in from either side of whatever the project you are working on. So if I take this, I'm gonna find my one inch. And I'm gonna lay this on here. And I'm gonna take this. What I wanna do is the butted up side, here, I'm gonna lay it right at that one inch line, also. And then I'm gonna come across and I'm gonna match this edge up with the edge to find my other one inch, here. And then I will lay this on here. And then I'll lift it up separate. I want the zipper all by itself. And I'm gonna secure this side. So now you can slide this out of the way. I know I have my measurements so when this gets sewn, I will have one inch on either side. And I'm gonna go ahead a sew. Make sure you put your zipper foot on. And what we wanna do is we are just gonna sew very close to the edge of our fold. I come in just about an eighth of an inch. And I like to start back on the tab part and then come into the zipper tape. And you don't need to backstitch here because when you get to sewing all your other parts together, it'll be nice and secure for you. So I'm gonna just be right inside my fold and I'm gonna go ahead and sew. And sew very slowly over your needles. And you can go right over your zipper. And pull it out. We can take these pins out. Flip it around to this side. Now, we do not want this in the way so let's make sure this slides over or it's gonna pop your needle. And I like to just back it up just a couple stitches just like that. And again, I'm gonna start on the fabric and I'm gonna go ahead and sew right over that. All right. So now, if we turn this over, you can see how much zipper is left over here, and here. If you're sewing super close, I would suggest flipping it over and sewing on this side and then walk your needle over these little metal pieces if your zipper isn't quite as long as mine, just so we don't pop a needle. So then what we wanna do is we want to trim our zipper and we wanna be about a quarter inch away from here. And just go ahead and cut through this. And then you can do the same over here. And then if we come back to our piece, if we take our ruler and we line up our one inch again, and you go to put this down, you're gonna line up, again, the edge of your fabric at that one inch line when you get ready to sew, and now you know you don't have to measure over here, because you measured an inch in on either side, you will have a perfectly even, nice, neat edges on your zipper, just like that.