wonky zips

what am I doing wrong?

Less than perfect zipper insertion!

When I click through your flickr photostreams or scroll through your blog posts, I see charming zip pouches and purses with PERFECT zips.

The zip pouches all look so gorgeous and professional, the perfect product to show off our screenprinted fabrics. I could see them made up in the designs from the Tribal range, the Urban type range, even the Kids range.

I'm not a sewing novice, in my hey day I made my mum a tweed jacket which was fully linned and had welt pockets. But, these zippers with rounded corners have got the better of me.

Have a look for yourself...

What am I doing wrong? is there a secret handed down from crafter to crafter that I don't know about? Can anyone help me?

If I can't perfect the rounded corner zip purse then I'm going to have to come up with a different approach, one where the zipper sits in one side of the pouch instead of at the top.

Comments

[Hannah]

hi lovely. no idea about the zip problem, but the kids fabrics would be fantastic as pencilcases! xo

[sam]

if you attach a little bit of fabric to the end of the zip, then when you sew the seams you are only dealing with fabric not zip, the result is more square, especially when all the bulk is also cut out. hope that makes sense. sorry i dont have any photos or anything.

[shannon]

I always snip the bulk out of my corners (zip corner included) and then use a chopstick to poke the zip end out flat. I'm interested to learn what others do, I'm sure there are heaps of secret tips and tricks out there : )