How to sew a standard zipper. They are easy to install, and they work for a lot of different applications. I am going to show how you would do a hidden zipper instal. This will make the zipper covered in the seam, you will still be able to see the zipper a bit and stitch lines unlike when you sew an invisible zipper and it’s truly invisible in the seam, but this is still a fine method for sewing a zipper in any garment.
If you want to see the post about zipper parts and sewing feet see here
If you want to see how to sew an invisible zipper see here
To start, with right sides together, sew the two pieces of fabric together down the edge you want the zipper to be installed on. Use a basting stitch to sew this line. A basting stitch is a stitch with longer stitches, so make the stitch length as long as it goes and then sew using a 5/8″ seam allowance. Why 5/8″? Zippers are 5/8″ wide from the center, so making a 5/8″ seam means the zipper tape will match up with the seam allowance and that makes for easier placement.
Press the seam allowance open flat.
Then from the back side of the fabric where the seam is pressed open, place the zipper right side down over the seam. Center the zipper over the seam so the teeth match up with the seam line. This should be easy to do if you used a 5/8″ seam allowance, as you can see above the raw edge of the seam allowance lines up perfectly with the zipper tape. Pin or tape your zipper in place.
Then from the right side, sew your zipper in place by sewing down along the teeth, turn and carefully sew across the bottom of the zipper, and then sew back up the other side, again following the teeth as a guide. You can use a zipper foot for this or a standard sewing foot just align your needle so it is sewing as close to the zipper teeth as possible.
Then, use a seam ripper to cut open the basting stitch down the center of the zipper. Stop when you get to where you stitched across the zipper. Remove all the loose threads.
Then you have a zipper that is again in a seam, hidden by small fold in the fabric. Using matching thread will obviously minimize the visibility of the zipper, since even the stitch lines will blend in, I used a darker thread so it would be more visible.