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Crochet guide

Adding a zipper to crochet

A zipper is sewn into crochet by hand, with a needle and thread that matches the yarn. Finish the piece first, pin the zipper along each edge with its teeth just clear of the stitches, and sew each side from the bottom up.

On this page 9 parts
  1. Choose the zipper
  2. Get the crochet ready
  3. Pin it
  4. Sew it by hand
  5. Shortening a zipper
  6. Or use yarn in place of thread
  7. A zipper in a lined bag
  8. Other ways to close a piece
  9. Where to go next

Choose the zipper

  • The kind. A zipper that is closed at the bottom suits a bag or a pouch. A separating zipper comes apart at the bottom. A cardigan or jacket needs one, so that it can open all the way.
  • The teeth. Zippers have metal teeth, molded plastic teeth or a fine coil.
  • The length. A zipper should match the length of the opening when it is closed. If that length is not to be had, buy the next longer one. A longer zipper can be shortened. A shorter one cannot be made longer.

Get the crochet ready

Crochet stretches a little and a zipper does not stretch at all. Once the zipper is in, the edge has no give. So finish everything else first.

  1. Finish the piece: sew its seams and weave in its ends.
  2. One how-to, written for knitted garments, also washes and blocks the piece now and lets it dry completely.
  3. Check that the two edges that will take the zipper are the same length.
  4. Choose sewing thread that matches the yarn, not the zipper.

Pin it

  1. Close the zipper and lay it under the opening, right side up.
  2. Pin one side at a time. Put a pin at the top and one at the bottom. Then pin the middle, then the spaces between.
  3. Keep both the crochet and the tape flat. Do not pull either one to fit the other.
  4. Set each edge of the crochet alongside the teeth. Keep the same small space all the way along, so that the slider can run freely and no yarn can catch in it.
  5. On a cardigan, check that the two bottom ends are level before you sew.

Sew it by hand

Stitch names on this page are United States terms, with the United Kingdom name in brackets where it differs.

  1. Start at the bottom of one side.
  2. Sew through the tape and the crochet in small stitches. Backstitch is one choice, made one stitch at a time with the needle going straight down and straight up. Running stitch is the other. One how-to finds that running stitch can bunch the fabric.
  3. Keep the thread out of sight among the stitches of the crochet. Take the pins out as you reach them.
  4. At the top, fold the end of the tape back to the wrong side and sew it down.
  5. Sew the second side the same way, from the bottom up, so that the two sides match when the zipper closes.

A sewing machine can also be used. The how-to that says so still prefers a needle and thread, for the control.

Shortening a zipper

To shorten a zipper, sew over the teeth again and again in one place at the new length. The stitches make a new stop. The spare end is tucked inside the piece.

Or use yarn in place of thread

A pointed yarn needle can take yarn through zipper tape.

  • Mark dots along the tape, 1/4 in (0.6 cm) to 1/2 in (1.3 cm) apart.
  • One how-to whip stitches the tape to the edge of the crochet with yarn, through every dot.
  • Another takes yarn through the dots to leave a row of loops along the tape, and then crochets into the loops.

A zipper in a lined bag

One how-to puts a bag's zipper in with its lining. The tape sits between the crochet and the fabric at the rim, and all three are pinned and sewn by hand together. Lining a crochet bag covers the lining.

Other ways to close a piece

Where to go next

Stitches

Guides