Made up on the Fly - Fly Front Zip Tutorial!

Bit of a post delay but been busy sewing for college :-)

Before making my Ginger jeans I had to do a million practice versions of a fly front zip. Think I'm kidding?

Nope.

So whilst trial and erroring a method that suited me I made myself a little 'how to' instruction for future reference. This was BEFORE I bought the Jeans e-book which would have saved a lot of hassle but not matter! I thought I would share my tutorial so here goes!

Grab a wine (you're going to need it) and settle in:

1.  Mark the centre front lines and seam allowance and the point at the end of the crotch curve

2. Finish the edges of the fly extension – start at top and bend the crotch curve out of the way to avoid cutting the main fabric

3.      Interface the fly extensions for stability and to avoid stretching out the fabric

4.      Securely sew up the crotch curve to the tack mark, thereafter use a long stitch and baste up the centre point line

5.      Clip the seam allowance at the tack mark, taking care not to cut the row of stitching

6.      Finish the crotch curve seam

7.      Press the fly extensions open (in this example I was pracising for the Ginger Jeans and so the seam is also pressed to left – the trousers are flipped to the front and topstitching is added to the right of the crotch seam, allowing the crotch curve to be secured down)

8.      Get a zip that is longer than needed so the zip pull stays out of the way and lines can be more accurate. The end of the zip tape should go to approx. end of the fly extension (the metal stopper being approx. 1.5cm or so above this)

9.      Place zip face down onto the right extension, through one layer only, pin and sew the right side of the zip tape, starting at the bottom upwards

10.   Turn the zip on itself and topstitch into place on the fly extension

11.   Turn everything onto the opposite side so the left fly extension is on the table. Let the zip naturally hit the fly extension (this need not line up exactly with edge of fly extension, preferable it doesn’t so there is room to topstitch later at point 13. Pin and sew into place

12.   Mark the zip end with a pin.(You don't want to be breaking any needles on that metal bit!)

13.   Draw on the fly shape so that it curves from below the pin and out about 2.5cm from centre front line. This line should also catch the fly extension behind it as well as the very bottom of the fly extension/zip tape as it curves inwards. Pin into place.

 14.   Stitch the line following the guide, starting from the crotch curve upwards

15.   Create the fly shield – the raw edge can be finished on overlocker or bound

16.   Stitch the fly shield onto the right fly extension as far down as it will go (my fly shield was a bit short on this, needed a cm extra to cover all the guts)

Stitched as far as possible then runs out of fly extension

17.   A little tack can be made from the front of the trousers on the fly topstitching that will catch the fly shield at the back and hold it in place – this can be a small tack by hand or for jeans, a bar tack by machine (see picture)

 

18.   Flip to the front of the trousers and undo the basting stitches

All done! - Enjoy those zipped up trews. They're pretty fly. (Oh dear...)

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