How to Make and Install a No-Sew Zipper

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Despite the appeal of a neat, zippered opening in a handknitted cardigan or jacket, mixing knitting and zippers can be tricky. More precisely, mixing knitting and the sewing required to apply zippers can be tricky: The zipper’s tape bulges and puckers if applied unevenly; sewing by hand is tedious; sewing by machine doesn’t afford enough control on precious handknits. Instead of sewing, try a new-sew zipper method that uses the knitting yarn itself for pucker-free installation that makes the zipper a permanent, organic part of the sweater.

No-Sew Zippers

To perform the magic trick of installing a no-sew zipper without a needle and thread, we’ll borrow a tool used in rug-making and machine knitting—the latch hook.

A small latch hook can be used to pull yarn loops through the fabric tape of the zipper—perfectly spaced loops that can then be picked up and worked as easily as stitches picked up along a neckline or side seam. A latch hook is basically a foolproof crochet hook—foolproof because its small latch can swing open and shut, trapping yarn when necessary and avoiding split plies (Figure 1).

Knitting the Zipper Technique

Our general method calls for poking the opened latch hook through the zipper tape at a pre-marked spot (Figure 2). A strand of yarn is caught on the hook and the latch closed. The loaded hook is drawn back through the zipper tape, drawing a loop of yarn with it—the closed latch guards against fraying or splitting as the yarn strand is squeezed through the tight hole. Finally, the latch opens, and the hook is removed, depositing a neat yarn loop on the front of the zipper tape.

From here, you can proceed in one of two ways:

Method 1: Live Loops

Following the above instructions, you may simply pick up loops and deposit them right away on to a knitting needle. 

Method 2: Chained Loops

Depending on your project, you may not need or want to work the zipper loops right away. Instead, you may pull each new loop through the previous one, leaving a chain of slipped stitches on the zipper tape (Figure 3).

In both Figure 2 and Figure 3, the latch hook is shown much larger than it is in real life for clarity. In both illustrations, A indicates the position of the latch hook—open to insert and closed to withdraw; B indicates the loops pulled through—looped over a knitting needle or chained on the zipper tape; and C indicates the insertion point of the latch hook—directly through the zipper tape for the live-loop method and through both the zipper tape and the previous loop for the chained-loop method. In both illustrations, the green line indicates the path of the yarn on the back side of the zipper tape. Both the live-loop and chain methods turn a zipper into a knittable object.

It can now be attached to a piece of knitting in any one of the ways pieces of knitting are ordinarily joined to one another. 

Installing the Zipper

With the live-loops method, loops are picked up and ready to knit. For chained loops, you will pick up loops when you are ready—you may choose whether to pick up stitches through the inside (nearest the zipper teeth) leg, the outside leg, or both legs.

Here are some options for joining the knitted zipper to garment pieces: 

• Pick up loops along the zipper edge of your garment and use a three-needle bind-off or a crochet chain bind-off to join the garment and zipper.
• Bind off the zipper stitches knitwise to leave a smooth edge or purlwise to leave a noticeable ridge. Seam the bound-off stitches to the edge of your garment.
• To hide zipper teeth, use the picked-up loops along the zipper tape as the base of an attached I-cord. Pick up stitches to join to the garment through the I-cord—or eliminate the seam completely by picking up a corresponding garment edge loop for each zipper-tape loop and treating them as one stitch as you work the attached I-cord.
• Work the zipper directly into a finished garment edge by inserting the latch hook through the zipper tape and garment at the same time, drawing each loop to the surface of the garment.

Troubleshooting

As with any new-to-you technique, no-sew zippers will need some practice and fine-tuning before they look perfect.

• Latch hooks take some getting used to. To control the latch’s tendency to poke and tangle, use your thumb to flip and hold it down (open) for insertion and yarn-catching, and then snap it shut for drawing back through the zipper tape.
• Because of its stiff and inflexible nature, nylon and polyester zipper tapes will fold over on themselves along the line of pickup. The tape will eventually soften with use and wear. Alternatively, try doubling the tape lengthwise and inserting the latch hook through both layers.
• Although tiny, the knitpicker can handle yarns up to and including most chunky weights. However, the thicker the yarn pulled through the tape, the more the zipper will buckle. To reduce buckling when working with heavy yarn, create the loops on the zipper tape using a thinner color matched yarn such as sock yarn. Alternatively, pick up half the number of final loops wanted, remembering to double the stitch count in the following row. With the chain method, you may pick up each leg of the chain. With the live-loop method, double each loop by knitting into its front and back on the next row.
• Pick up stitches with the zipper opened or separated.
• Poking the latch hook through tightly woven zipper tape is quicker if a large sharp needle or small awl is used to pre-poke the holes. Pre-washing the zipper will also soften the tape. Don’t shy away from zippers—knit them!

Good knitting,
TECHknitter

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TECHknitter lives in Wisconsin and blogs at TECHknitting.blogspot.com. 

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Originally published in Interweave Knits Winter 2010.

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No-Sew Zippers + More Finishing Techniques