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[exerda]

I'm having some problems sewing in a zipper in the back of a lycra bodysuit for part of a costume. My sewing machine doesn't have differential feed or adjustable presser foot pressure, so when I try sewing the zipper in with it the spandex gets stretched way too much, resulting in ugly rolls and bumps along the whole length of the zipper.

So far I've tried playing with the machine settings to no end, sewing upside-down (with the spandex against the feed dogs), and covering the spandex with tissue paper which I tore off once the seam was done. The zipper now is about to separate into strips I've sewn it in so many times

I *could* try serging it in based on some tutorials I found, but as that will trim away everything, I want to save that as a last resort. I also have considered pressing in a small strip of fusible interfacing (carefully so as not to melt the lycra!) to see if that will help stabilize the fabric edge so I can sew on the zipper. And ... ugh ... hand-sewing the whole zipper in.

Any suggestions as to which of those might be the best option, or something else entirely?

Thanks!

[kiwi]

hand basting should work. I put a zipper in lycra and actually basted it by machine, and that worked but was a little finicky. It can also help to guide both the fabric going into the machine and the stuff coming out the back. (you can control the tension a little by hand).

[Luna Hoshino]

Hand-baste it first. That's how I put the zipper into my Dougan costume, and I didn't have any problems sewing it into the stretch vinyl after I did that. The tissue-paper also helped enormously.

And as always, make sure you're using a zipper foot. ^_~

[exerda]

Thanks for the suggestions ... I ended up hand-basting it near the zipper teeth (where I ultimately wanted the sewn seam to be), then machine basting down the outside edge of the zipper, removing the hand basting, and then finally machine sewing along the teeth and removing the machine basting.

I had to do it that way as machine sewing along the hand basting was still causing some fabric pucker (particularly between the basted stitches). The extra machine basting on the outside edge of the zipper gave it more stability until I finished machine sewing.

Thanks again!