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Add a Zipper to 251 Varsity Jacket

November 01, 2022

Our 251 Varsity Jacket pattern traditionally closes with snaps. You need to have fairly heavy duty snaps to use in this pattern. If using snaps as closures, you will need snaps and fasteners such as these (from Wawak).

However, I was inspired by a bomber jacket I saw on Black-ish a few years ago and have been thinking of ever since. You can see the jacket here. But, honestly there were so many good varsity/bomber jackets on that show (it was a great one for fashion) - there's one here and here and here, for inspiration. And, I also really like many of the bomber jackets I've seen lately made from silk and florals. But nearly all of these jackets close with zippers rather than snaps. So I decided to add a zipper to this jacket rather than snaps. It is quite easy to do, so I'll show how I did this.

I constructed the jacket exactly how the pattern describes until the end. I used a poly brocade fabric and lined it with black silk. I also used athletic trim from Pacific Trimming. Then, instead of inserting the snaps in the jacket after it is all constructed, I used a 22" separating zipper. I chose one with metal coils and coordinating color, but you can pick just about anything you want it to be.

I simply pinned and sewed the zipper on one side of the jacket, with the zipper side to the inside of the jacket. I used a zipper foot to sew close to the edge of the zipper. Since this jacket calls for topstitching (which is optional), it makes sense to do this and have the topstitching as a reinforcement for the zipper. I did not add any additional topstitching since I did not think it would look any better.

Once the zipper was sewn on one side, I lined up the other side of the jacket with the zipper tape and did the same thing. Make sure you have both sides of the jacket lined up at the neck and bottom edges (or it will look wonky when the second side of the zipper is sewn on and the jacket zips up unevenly).

I folded the top of the zipper tape toward the back of the jacket so it wouldn't stick up into the neck and sewed it down as I was finishing the zipper. Then I trimmed it down.

Then the jacket is finished! This was so much easier (for me) than using snaps. Snaps make me so nervous to attach as I am always fearful I am going to rip a hole in the garment and make a mess. Anyway, just another way to finish off this 251 Varsity Jacket!