Just ZIP IT!

by SewMagical

SewMagical has delivered this wonderful project as promised!
I can see wonderful zippered sweatshirts wrapped as gifts in all shapes and sizes this holiday season!
Take a moment and start thinking…  children, adults, men, women, friends…
How about one for your dear friend who loves to garden and they are always outside in late fall and early spring preparing the soil?  Not cold enough for a jacket (plus they are bulky) – but a lighter weight sweatshirt, embellished with their favorite flowers would be wonderful!
Have a bird watcher in your family? There are more designs than you can stitch on this page:   http://www.designsbysick.com/search?firstword=bird
Think of the dog lovers in your life!  Sometimes when they walk their dog, it is just a bit too chilly for a sweater – and not quite cold enough for a jacket!  The designs found here will surely add to a homemade sweatshirt cardigan!
http://www.designsbysick.com/search?firstword=dog
The list goes on and on – cooks and bakers, those who like to grill outdoors when there is a nip in the air, something to wear when you watch your children or grandchildren playing sports or just at the park, how about the mechanic in your life (or his pint-sized sidekick) who might appreciate something more than the plain drab gray sweatshirt that has to be pulled on and off over his head?

I would love to see what you come up with!..  If you create one of these lovely sweatshirts using designs from Designs By SiCK – send a picture to me and you will receive a free set of your choosing!  I will have a special page for just these projects with a link from this article!  Email me and make sure you put “SWEATSHIRT PROJECT” in the subject line.  EMAIL:  Click here to email rob

Now – onto SewMagical’s awesome step-by-step instructions (After reading these, I even think *I* can make them!)

With the cooler weather arriving in my area, I like to wear cozy fleece sweatshirts. They are inexpensive, warm, durable, and can be found in many different colors. One thing I don’t like, though, is putting them on and taking them off. Pulling a sweatshirt over my head can mess up your hair or catch on those dangly pierced earrings. Ouch!

Rather than give up my sweatshirts, I came up with another solution: put a separating zipper in the front, and turn it into an easy-on, easy-off cardigan style.

There are 3 sections to the method I used.

1. First is applying a binding to the bottom replacing the knit hem.
2. Next is applying the separating zipper to the  center front.
3. Finally, the fun part of embellishing with machine embroidery and machine applique.

Here are the steps.
THE HEM
1.    Mark the center front of the shirt with tailor’s chalk. You can find the center by folding the shirt in half, matching the neckline edges or armhole seams.

2.    Make sure you use the right type and size of needle for the job. A ball-point needle is designed for knits, and will push the threads of the fabric aside, rather than piercing them.  A size 90/14 needle is suggested for fleece. This information is usually on the needle package.

3.    Place a row of machine basting stitches about ½ inch either side of your center line. Do the same thing around the hem, about one-half or 3/8 inch about the seam line where the ribbing joins the body of the shirt. These lines of stitching will help keep the shirt from stretching as you work with it.

4.    Carefully cut between the two lines up the front, and around the hem, between the seam and your stitching.

5.    I wanted a fairly wide band around the bottom, with a little bit of “body”.
I cut a strip of fabric about 4 inches wide, and long enough to go around the hem.
Fold this strip in half, right sides out, long sides together, and press.
Open the folded strip and press each raw edge to the center fold.
Press again.
Fold the strip in half, with the folded edges meeting, and press again.

6.    Start at one of the center front edges. Open out one side of the binding, and place the RIGHT side of the fabric against the WRONG side of the shirt. Have the raw edges even. Pin in place

Stitch along the fold line, which will be about 1 inch from the edge.

7.    Fold the binding strip up and over the raw edge. The folded edge of the binding will be on the right side of the shirt, covering the line of stitches.

Pin in place and top-stitch close to the folded edge. If needed, trim the ends of the binding to be even with the center opening edges. This finishes the bottom hem.

THE ZIPPER
8.    The band on the center front edge is a strip about 2 and one-quarter-inch wide. Fold under on long edge 1/2 inch, then 1/2 inch again.
Press and, if desired, stitch in place. (I stitched mine).
Pin to the center front edge, with the  WRONG side of the fabric against the RIGHT side of the shirt. You can baste the edge if you like, or just leave it pinned.
At the hem, fold under the edge of the band to give a neat finish.

9.     Prepare the strip for the inside facing by taking a piece of fabric about 1 3/4 inches wide.
On one long edge, press under about ½ inch.

Starting at the hem, pin one side of your separating zipper face down, with the edge of the zipper tape meeting the center front edge.

Pin the facing strip face down over the zipper. Your front edge now has several layers.

Starting from the bottom up, you should have:

• Your shirt, face up
• The front band, face up
• The zipper, face down,
• The facing strip, face down.

10.    Using a zipper foot, stitch through all layers about one-half-inch from the edge  moving the zipper slider if needed.

11.    Put the shirt WRONG side up. Open out the front band, so it does not get caught. Stitch alongside the zipper teeth, through the facing and the shirt, enclosing the seam allowance.

Now, fold the front band back into place, and top-stitch from the front.
Using this method, there is only one line of stitching showing on the front, unless you stitched down the hem of the band (as mentioned in Step 8 above.)

12.    Getting the two halves of a separating zipper to line up can be tricky, but I think this method will make it a little easier. Start by preparing the front band and facing strip as above (Steps 8 and 9), and attach the front band to the center front edge.

13.    Join the two sides of the zipper.

14.    Place the RIGHT side of the zipper tape against the RIGHT side of the center front edge, matching the two sides of the jacket at the hemline, and pin in place.

Now you can (carefully!) undo the zipper, and pin the facing stip to the zipper edge.

Follow Steps 9, 10 and 11 to finish attaching the zipper.

15.    Sew down each side of the front band to fasten it in place. This will also catch the facing underneath.

16.    Tuck in the ends at the neck and hem to give a neat finished look, and stitch by hand or machine.

EMBELLISHING
17.    Since a sweatshirt stretches, I did not want to do a heavy, dense design. I decided to use machine applique and redwork to decorate21.j my shirt. I chose Applique Leaves (http://www.designsbysick.com/details/appliqueleaves) and  RW Fall Leaves (http://www.designsbysick.com/details/rwfallleaves) since both sets would coordinate nicely with my binding fabric.

18.    The Applique Leaves, I soon realized, were a little too big for my embroidery field.

I used my machine’s software to reduce the size.

19.    Once I had the design the right size, I was ready to start my stitching. I hooped some cut-away stablizer. (Using tear-away stabilzer on a knit fabric would allow the design to shift as soon as the hoop would be removed.). I used a small amount of temporary spray adhesive to attach my shirt to the hoop.

20.    The first color in an applique design is the placement line. This shows you where to place your applique fabric.

21.    The machine stops to allow you to place your fabric. Make sure your piece covers the entire area of the placement line, without any gaps or missing areas, like here.

22.    The next color is the fabric tack down line. This holds the fabric in place. If you want, you can use some more temporary spray adhesive to make sure your embellishment fabric stays nice and smooth.

23.    When the machine stops again, remove the hoop from the machine, but do not remove the shirt from the hoop. That is important, so I’m going to repeat that: DO NOT REMOVE YOUR SHIRT FROM THE HOOP!!

24.    Carefully trim the excess fabric away, close to the tackdown line. Use a sharp scissors with fine points, and work slowly and carefully.

25.    Place the hoop back on the machine, and stitch the vein details

the stem

and finally, the satin stitch border

Take the hoop off the machine, and remove your shirt. On the back, trim away any excess stabilizer

26.    Repeat these steps for each applique design you are using. I used 3 different leaves, and place some of the redwork designs (which don’t show well in this picture) between the bolder designs.

27.    Wear your finished project

and enjoy the looks of amazement when you tell people “Yes, I did this myself.”

Other design variations:
You don’t have to use a zipper. There are lots of other closure methods you can use
(see http://www.designsbysick.com/articles/closing-up/ for some ideas).

If you don’t want ribbing on the cuffs, you can use the same method used here on the hem. Mark how long you want the sleeves, and do your stitching at that point, cutting off the ribbing and the excess sleeve fabric.

Remember that you don’t have to use the applique designs as applique! Just leave out the fabric to give the same pattern a new look.

***  For a PDF file of this project, please click here:     Just Zip It 10 23 2011