A zipper I installed on a client's dress kept splitting at the waist seam

I spent 3 hours on Saturday redoing a zipper on a bridesmaid dress for a friend in Austin, and it still caught wrong after the third try. Turns out the fabric was just too thin for the zipper weight I picked - has anyone else had to swap zipper types mid-project because of fabric thickness?

2 comments

2 Comments

fisher.taylor17d ago

Wait, did you end up switching to a lighter weight zipper or going with a different application method entirely? I had the same issue on a silk blouse last month and finally gave up on the invisible zipper and used a lapped zipper instead, which somehow worked way better with the thin fabric. It's wild how much the zipper tape stiffness can throw off the whole waist seam area, especially when the fabric has zero structure to hold it in place. But I'm still kicking myself for not testing the zipper on a scrap piece first (you know, the thing we all say we'll do but never actually do).

clairebaker17d ago

Oh man, you actually went with a lapped zipper on silk? I don't know why but that just blew my mind a little. I always figured lapped zippers were strictly for heavier stuff like wool skirts or denim. But the more I think about it, yeah, the tape on an invisible zipper is basically like ironing a piece of cardboard into your waist seam. No wonder it fights you on thin fabric. I've got a silk dress in my pile right now that I've been avoiding for weeks because I couldn't figure out why the invisible zipper kept puckering. Now I'm sitting here wondering if I've just been fighting the wrong tool the whole time. Definitely gonna try your trick before I toss another zipper across the room.