Zipper Flower Tutorial

I love the texture of these zipper flowers and think they are totally unique. I’m so excited to introduce you to Kellianne, who has agreed to do a tutorial for us.

Howdy! I am Kellianne from Tinkeranniebelle.

As a young girl my incredibly amazing mother taught me to sew, and I have been sewing, designing, and creating ever since–I love pretty much anything and everything that allows me to get outside the conventional box of life and create something beautiful.

I especially love finding things that would not be defined as “beautiful” and transforming them into beautiful works of art. Recently I have been very intrigued by the zipper fashion trends–who knew that a simple zipper could have so many possibilities! This project takes one simple, seemingly boring zipper–any zipper–to create a unique and lovely zipper flower.

Here’s what you will need for the basic zipper flower:

Any kind of zipper (I’ve used paper zippers, metal zippers, plastic zippers, long zippers, short zippers, anything you can find–they will all turn out with their own unique personalities.)
Thread to match your zipper
Hand-sewing needle
Scissors (preferably not your nice Gingher sewing shears or anything like that–you’ll be using these to cut apart the zipper)

First, take your zipper and cut the zipper stop off of the bottom:

Then unzip the zipper and pull of the zipper tab (however, feel free to save the zipper tab, because they make great embellishments for later)

Thread your needle and tie a knot in the bottom of BOTH strands so that your thread is doubled (the doubled thread will help your design to remain intact and secure when you stitch it)

Take one side of your newly separated zipper and curl one end into a circle toward the rest of the zipper (the end will overlap onto the rest of the zipper on the inside or your circle)–the size of this first circle loop will depend on how long your zipper is or how you want your final design to look, feel free to play around with it. Once you are satisfied with the size and shape, take a small stitch inside your circular loop where the end of the zipper overlaps the rest of the zipper–just stitch back and forth through the zipper to secure and hide the zipper tail.

With your first loop now in place, take the zipper and make a second, more elongated loop to the side of the first circular loop, as if you were making a gift-wrapping bow. If you can, feel free to continue the rest of the loops without stitching; however, I have a tendency to drop my loops before I can make it to the end, so I prefer to secure each loop with another stitch in the center.

Next, make a third elongated loop on the opposite side to mirror your second loop:

Depending on how long your zipper is, or how you would like your completed floral design to look, you can continue making these alternating elongated loops to create a larger zipper flower:

However, since my zipper was rather short, I ended it after two elongated loops on the sides–to end and finish off your zipper flower design, take the remaining zipper tail and curl it back into the zipper design, creating another circular loop:

Stitch through the center of the entire zipper flower to secure your design:

Once you feel your flower is complete and secure in the shape that you would like, tie your thread off with a knot near your last stitch, or sew three small stitches in the same place (this will also create a knot). Cut your thread, and voila, you are done!

What I love most about this particular zipper flower is the overall simplicity of it–you can make it very quickly and without burning a hole in your pocket, and there are so many things you can do with it! Use it as a necklace pendant, attach it to a bangle bracelet, or my favorite (I have a weakness for rings), add it to a ring for a quick, easy, and unique accessory:

If you think that one of these zipper flowers is cute, just imagine what you can do with a whole bouquet of them!–I particularly enjoy a relaxing evening watching movies with the family while stitching these little guys together into bib necklaces:

The possibilities are endless–allow your imagination to run wild creating these beautiful zipper flowers, and don’t forget to brag to all your friends that YOU made them!